A Whole New World
by Starsinger
Summary: It's time to bring this to an end, and return to where it all started. Although, Logan's revenge when he has way too much time on his hands can be very interesting
1. Chapter 1

**A Whole New World**

by Starsinger

**This AU has no known basis in any Marvel numbered worlds that I am aware of. It is inspired by a short adult story by Madripoor Rose that she put up on livejournal a few months ago. The one where Kitty became an exchange teacher to Russia, specifically the village in which Piotr lived. Also, this is not based on the Ultimate X-Men Universe. As always, I don't own these people, Marvel does. They just let me play with their characters. **

_She was born small, not premature, but her mother had been sick through all six of her pregnancies, and she'd be only the third of her children to survive. She survived and they named her Katherine Anne, after her grandmother. Her world valued hard work, whether they were human or mutant. Although, if one were tested and found to have the X-Gene, life became easier for the family, and so it happened. She carried the one precious gene, although it was uncertain if she would actually become a mutant._

_She was born into a world where mutants and "talents", those who were not technically mutants, but carried certain psychic talents, were cloistered and pampered. Their talents were honed and any natural abilities were encouraged. So, her family moved from the middle-class suburbia with its manufactured homes, to the posh neighborhood where families with potentials lived. Not only were mutants and talents housed here, but people whose high IQs or other talents also placed them above the normal population. There, they waited. _

_At thirteen years old Katherine started to develop headaches that no one could explain. She would spend hours lying in her room, trying to get them to go away. One day, an odd little man who called himself Logan stopped by with what appeared to be a small purple animal. The small creature was one of a handful of survivors from his native world. Katherine had gone upstairs once again to calm a raging headache when her brother opened the door. The creature took off for the couch and started crooning to something on the other side. It was said that these "dragons" had taken to several people and it was becoming quite an honor to be chosen by one. Katherine had suddenly been thrust into the land of the chosen, talented, and mutants as her mutant phasing power, empathic talent, and little purple friend whom she named Lockheed seemed to make suddenly very clear._

_Katherine had gone by the name "Kitty" for several years when she before she and her family settled on Xavier's School for the Gifted and Talented for the rest of her schooling. What no one had counted on was her extraordinarily high IQ and absolute genius for anything regarding computers. She could never get used to wearing the gloves anyone with empathic or telepathic talents were required to wear._

_Half a world away and five years earlier six boys were born in a small village in Siberia. Three of them were identified with the X-gene. The Nicholas and Alexandra Rasputin were not at all surprised to find that their middle son carried it as their oldest son, Mikhail, was himself a mutant, but what did surprise them was the announcement that their boy was probably homosexual. They were also reminded that genetics was not an exact science. So, they weighed their hopes for grandchildren on their oldest son and decided not to pressure the young child they named Piotr, to be anything he wasn't._

_The years rolled by as Nicholas became the village headmaster and the boys grew. Mikhail grew into a fine young man who served his country well becoming a fine pilot and cosmonaut before returning home to settle down and find a wife. Piotr became a teacher at the age of sixteen. He had mastered three languages including English and taught this and art at the local school, but didn't seem to make any lasting attachments, much to his parents' puzzlement. They were prepared to accept whoever he brought home._

_Shortly after Piotr became a teacher, Alexandra discovered that she was pregnant yet again. The pregnancy was complicated due to her advanced age, and the physicians kept a close eye on her. She was safely delivered of a baby girl who appeared to be normal, and to no one's surprise, also carried the X-gene. The difficulties with a small village is that most of the villagers are related to one another in one way or another. So a way was devised that several young people from around the world would travel to this small town and provide mates for those yet unpaired._

Kitty tugged on her thin gloves, making sure they were in place before boarding the plane. She had volunteered for this teaching trip after having several relationships that ended badly. One had ended the day before they were to get married. Her mother told her that twenty was too young to get married and try a change of scenery. So, being one of the few at Xavier's who actually spoke Russian, volunteered for the teacher exchange program in Siberia. She knew that they hoped she would find a mate there. She, Jean Grey, and Anna Darkholme were on their way to Siberia, like Kitty, Jean wore gloves to protect her from accidental stray thoughts from encountering people physically. Anna wore clothing that covered her whole body and a vale that covered her face. Kitty wasn't entirely sure why she wore the vale, the rest she could understand. Anna's powers enabled her to absorb the powers of anyone she touched. Unfortunately, that also meant she sucked the life force of that person as well. She couldn't control it which precipitated the full coverage. An unfortunate encounter with a woman named Carol Danvers left Rogue, as she liked to be called, with Carol's powers and psyche permanently imprinted in her body. Carol, unfortunately, was in a vegetative state.

On the way west, they picked up several other passengers. Remy LaBeau, Scott Summers, and Jubilation Lee joined them on the plane. Kitty sighed as she poured through the portfolio that had been assembled for them. Jubilee sat down with a sigh next to her, "Telepath?" she asked casually.

"No, that's Jean," Kitty answered absently as the rucksack next to her moved. "I'm an empath." She stopped at a picture that struck her. The black hair and blue eyes struck her as strangely gentle, "Mutant power probable but not manifested yet, probably gay," were the words written beside it. She pondered what the words that were probably scrawled in the margins of her own portfolio's picture.

"What's in the sack?" Jubilee asked, eyeing the moving leather warily.

Kitty put the portfolio down and absently grabbed the sack, unzipping it without even looking up. Lockheed popped out, unhappily venting his frustration at Kitty who never even looked up. "You could've gone with Logan, Lockheed. You knew what coming with me meant, don't give me the lecture." The purple dude replied with a humph, knowing he was getting nowhere with her. He settled down next to her and watched out the window. "Don't grumble at me when I have to put you back when we land." Jubilee watched with some amusement as the dragon stuck his tongue out at her.

Jubilee looked at her, "So, you have a dragon, huh? What do you think of the group of potential suitors?"

"I don't know, I think I'll wait till we land."

Alexandra and her young daughter, Ilyana, met the group off the plane at the airport. Her husband was settling in another group that had arrived two days earlier. She watched closely as six people, four women and two men exited the plane one carrying a rucksack. She immediately started mentally pairing some of the people, but the young brunette wearing gloves left her puzzled. She wasn't entirely sold on the idea that Piotr was gay, she suspected his best friend, Grigorii was, but there was no convincing Nicholas. She stepped forward, "Welcome to Russia. We appreciate you coming." The red head glanced up as she pulled a coat around her. "It is still spring, here, but I think you will find it cold." She made a mental note to have the shielded quarters aired out for the two wearing gloves so they could be comfortable.

As Alexandra lead them to the waiting car, she noticed the sack move. Ilyana tugged away from her mother as she ran up to the brunette, "Is it? May I see it? Please, tell me…" the girl's voice trailed off as a ring of smoke trailed up from the slightly opened zipper. She heard her daughter squeal. Alexandra shrugged, she'd find out what had been brought soon enough. Another car had been brought for the luggage as her oldest son, Mikhail, emerged to greet the newcomers. His eyes immediately traveled to the red head and the brunette before settling on the brunette. The girl didn't even notice his admiring glance so intent she was in wrestling her two suitcases into the car. Alexandra's eyes travelled to the other two girls. The short brunette ignored the men as she scooted to find her seat in the car as the red head easily lifted her five suitcases into the car without touching them. The man with the red glasses couldn't take his eyes off her. Of the two men the one without the red glasses had the strangest accent she'd ever heard as she accosted the veiled woman, "Let me help you, mon ami." At least that's what she thought he said.

The girl laughed as they all piled into the car. The sack in brunette's arms moved violently as the occupant let them know it wanted out. "Kitty Pryde," the girl gasped out in laughter. Alexander stopped before entering the car to admire a flock of Whooper Swans as they flew overhead.

**Whooper Swans are a large, noisy, white swan with a yellow beak. They are quite beautiful and slightly smaller than their American cousin, the Trumpeter Swans. They are native to Siberia and the northern reaches of Europe including Iceland and Scotland. Before you ask how I know this, there are a pair of these nesting at the zoo where I work. Ironically, they live with the Giraffes and Ostriches and White Rhinos in the African exhibit. Go figure, this is the same zoo that has a turkey named Cletis. They are huge and beautiful. Input appreciated because I don't have a clue as to where I'm taking this.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

**by Starsinger**

**I'm going to apologize in advance, I'm from Texas, not Louisiana. I can write a Scottish accent, but forget the Cajun accent worth anything. Can't think of a better name for the chapter, sorry. No, still don't own them.**

Unhappy noises issued from the sack as the Ilyana's fingers itched to touch it. She was sure what was in it, but didn't want to be so rude as to open it without the brunette's permission. She made a face at Mikhail who had pointedly slid in beside the woman who called herself Kitty. She heard her mother introduce herself as she heard a voice tell her, "Go ahead, open it. He's not happy in there anyway." Ilyana heard herself squeal as the purple head popped out of the bag. Alexandra simply didn't know how to react. She had heard that the tiny population had migrated to Earth several years earlier, but had never met one. Her opinion of the girl went up several notches.

They finally reached the compound that housed the teachers and stopped at the shielded quarters. Alexandra gestured for Kitty and Jean to exit the car, "These are the shielded quarters. I'm told you'd be more comfortable here." Kitty nodded, resigned as she stepped out of the car, Jean a moment behind her. Mikhail and Scott were a step behind them. The other residents started to exit the buildings, curious as to whom had arrived.

"Dr. Pryde," a voice called out. Alexandra turned at the same time Jean and Kitty did to find Dr. Henry McCoy striding toward them. He held out his hand to Kitty, "Good to see you again."

A genuine smile crossed the girl's face as she clasped his hand, "Hank, it's good to see you too. How'd you end up here?"

"Same reason you did, contract," he turned to see Alexandra's confused face. "Don't let her age fool you. She had her first PhD at thirteen. Only interrupted a year later when her mutant power manifested. How many do you have?" he asked.

"Uh, three, Information Technology, Physics, and Paleontology, I sort of started college when I was eleven," she finished uncomfortably. Lockheed hovered nearby as Hank looked up and smiled. Alexandra liked McCoy, so this just ratcheted the girl up in her mind. The next confrontation set her teeth on edge as Raven Darkholme followed the good doctor. Kitty saw her and tried to hurry into her quarters, Jean a step behind her.

"Well, if it isn't the mighty Jean Grey and her sidekick Dr. Pryde. Cured my daughter yet?" It took all of Kitty's self control and Jean's telekinesis to keep someone from hitting the woman. Two pairs of gloved hands clenched as Hank grabbed Lockheed to keep him from attacking.

"I'm a physicist, not geneticist, Raven, or do you still call yourself Mystique?" Kitty bit out. Kitty felt the emotions of anger and hate flowing from the woman, she sighed, "Why don't you ask her yourself?" she muttered as she entered her new quarters. She heard Jean enter behind her and close the door. She sighed with relief as the rampage of emotions outside subsided. She heard Jean turn on the heating unit behind her. Lockheed plopped down on the bed. Their quarters consisted of three bedrooms with two beds a piece in each room. Their room also held a dresser, table and two chairs, three lamps one a gas lamp, and a closet. Another door to their right opened into a bathroom. Kitty stripped off her gloves before she started to unpack.

"Well, at least the walls aren't the standard beige," Jean sighed. Kitty turned, the ring on her right hand flashed, "Why are you still wearing that? It's not like Sebastian Shaw is going to know if you hide it in a drawer…" Jean's voice trailed off as Kitty tried to suppress the surge of shame and resignation. "Well, with the gloves, the only way anyone would know is if they're a mind reader." The opal seemed to shine with a light of its own as they finished unpacking.

"Jean, this was my punishment for failing Rogue," Jean opened her mouth in denial. Kitty shook her head, "I should never have promised them that something could be done…" her voice trailed off as the door slammed open.

There stood Rogue unveiled and disheveled, but before either could open their mouths to comment she blurted, "That Cajun, Gambit, he can touch me!" Hank was hot on her heels nodding his head.

"Well, I guess we should put in our first call to Moira," Jean commented.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alexandra joined them in the communications compound as they contacted their colleague. Tears streamed down Rogue's face as Remy's bare hand caressed the bare skin of her face. "Well, I'd say tha' this is vera interestin'. Ye aren't feelin' any problems?" the older Scot asked.

Remy shook his head, "I didn't realize that I shouldn't be able to do this, mon ami."

_Anybody told Raven? _Jean asked telepathically. Kitty shook her head no.

"Remy, would you mind if we took a sample of your DNA, to see if we can pinpoint the reason you can counteract the effect of her powers?" Moira asked, Kitty found herself getting up for the med kit that was always in these areas. She found the swab she'd been looking for and snapped on a pair of gloves after stripping off her customary pair. Her back had been turned to the others in the room, hoping they didn't see the ring. Remy grinned impishly at her as she swabbed the inside of his mouth and locked it into the tube. They left the building as dinner time was called in the compound.

"Ah, you'll meet some of your students," Alexandra announced. "Don't worry, school doesn't start until Monday. I'm sure you'll need to adjust to the time change, anyway." Alexandra hadn't missed the ring, but she wasn't sure why she was hiding the beautiful stone. Someone else had noticed it to, with a narrowing of her eyes, but Raven simply walked away.

"I thought Rogue was her adopted daughter," Jubilee said.

"She is," Kitty replied. "She just feels responsible, so do I." Kitty sighed. Dinner consisted of a thick stew accompanied by bread. Rogue joined them as the men from the village seemed to orbit them, like satellites orbiting the planet.

"You'll get used to it," Ilyana piped up plopping down next to Kitty. Lockheed joined them, sticking his head in the bowl he'd been given. "So, you two can read minds?" she asked innocently. "We had a woman in here last year, Ms Frost. She wore thick gloves like you," she said pointing at Jean. "Do you know her?" she asked, watching the two women shudder.

"More or less," Kitty replied. "She died last year. I took a position she held last year." She smiled as the young girl's eyes grew, "I'm not leaving for at least six months. This position is mostly…ceremonial." Ilyana nodded, her eyes suddenly glued to her stew bowl. Quick sideways glances at Lockheed showed her true interest, the dragon, however, was very hungry.

Jean stood, "I'm going for a flight." She cocked an eyebrow at Lockheed who was licking his chops, "Care to join me?" The two exited the building after Jean deposited her dinner tray. Kitty thoughtfully finished her dinner before leaving as well. She gave a backwards glance before she did so. Ilyana watched with interest as one brother moved to join her outside while the other fought to stay inside and remain impassive.

"Are you cold?" came the voice from behind.

Kitty turned and saw Mikhail behind her. "A little," she admitted. "You're Mikhail, right? Ilyana's oldest brother?" His white teeth gleamed as he smiled in response. "She's a very charming little girl. Are you as charming?" she asked, coyly looking back over her shoulder at him.

Mikhail removed his jacket and put it around her shoulders, "Almost as charming as your little purple friend. You speak Russian," it wasn't a question. They'd been conversing in it the entire time.

Kitty looked at him, "My grandfather taught me. My grandmother was from the Ukraine, she taught him…" the statement trailed off.

"And he taught you," he finished.

They reached her quarters before turning back to him, "Look, Mikhail, I just got out of a bad break-up with a guy named Pete. I'm a little out of practice."

"I understand, Kitty, I will take it as slow, or as fast, as you wish," he bent down and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow." He left her and his jacket behind.

Kitty's hand went to her cheek. Pete Wisdom hadn't been a bad guy, they just hadn't been good together. She sighed, at least it wasn't his brother, Piotr, chasing her. She turned back into the building, never noticing that she was being watched. The red flannel nightgown and woolly socks she had been provided made the room's temperature tolerable, well, until Jean and Lockheed were blown in with the cold Siberian wind. "The lake up here is beautiful," Jean said unwrapping herself from her cold stiffened clothing.

"Yes, Lake Baikal is what I heard Piotr call it," Kitty murmured. "So, how are you and Scott getting along?" Jean's eyes widened, "Oh, please, you don't have to be an empath to detect those moon eyes you were making at him."

Jean stifled laughter, "Oh, and I was supposed to miss those looks you were giving Michael?" Kitty shrugged. "Better watch it, Kitty, his brother was watching you too." Kitty's face picked up as she stared at her friend.

Kitty shook her head, unable to think that far. The next day they spent touring around the village. Everyone wore gloves, hats, coats and various items of clothing that caused laughter from the elderly men in the village who said it was warm. The familiarization process took maybe an hour. It was a village, after all.

When they returned a martial arts class was being taught by a young Japanese instructor in the village square. The students were young, farm boys who were overly impressed with brute strength. Not a single girl could be seen. Jean watched Kitty's eyes gleam, "Don't hurt the local wildlife," she whispered.

Kitty gave her an innocent, "Who? Me?" look before walking over to the square to offer some advice. Her trip to Japan and the incident with Ogun still made her a master even this master would have a hard time to beat. "No, no, your form is all wrong," Kitty told one of the youngsters. "You need to be more relaxed."

Yoshi, the young instructor, turned to her with contempt in his eyes, "What would you know about this?"

"I would watch your step with Dr. Pryde if I were you," Raven, to everyone's but Kitty's surprise joined in, "She'll make you look like a child."

Fire lit his eyes as he challenged her and anyone else to the fight. One condition, she couldn't use her powers. She looked at Raven as she stripped down to her shirt and pants, "Still have that inhibitor?" Raven grinned as she pulled a bracelet out of her pocket and snapped it around Kitty's wrist. She relaxed into her stance and gave the young men a wave that simply said, "Bring it on."

When Piotr and Mikhail happened on the scene the village had split into two. On one side sat Jean, Rogue, Raven, Remy, Lockheed, Hank, and Scott. Lockheed was eating popcorn. The rest of the village sat on the other side waiting for their young men to bring the obnoxious young American down a notch. Piotr and Mikhail watched her stance, lean, hard muscles rippled easily as her audience whistled in appreciation of a form that had been previously hidden by the bulky clothing she wore. They joined the dragon and his friends. Their confidence was well founded as ten minutes later her opponents lay on the ground, groaning.

"You're getting slow, Pryde," Raven called out. "You should have been done five minutes ago."

Kitty chuckled as Lockheed dropped a towel in her gloved hands. She wiped her face and walked over to Yoshi, "Nice match," was all she commented before she dropped her towel on his prone body and grabbing her coat and heading for her quarters for a shower. She stopped long enough to unclasp the inhibitor, "How much did you win, Raven?"

"Oh," Raven started, "speaking of which…" her voice trailed off as she waded into the crowd.

Jean shook her head, "She had to show off."

**The first fight is planned in the next chapter over this particular scene. As always, any input is welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

**First off, my hats off to An Odd Little Turtle, you nailed the Babylon 5 reference with the gloves. I'm taking this world in a form of a Babylon 5/Rowan (Anne McCaffrey) mix. No PsiCorps, but there are gloves. If you haven't checked out Warrior with No Name by An Odd Little Turtle, I very much recommend that you do. Very nice building piece. No, still don't own them.**

"Dr. Pryde, was that really necessary?" a voice asked behind her.

Kitty turned, not expecting Michael's brother standing there, "I beg your pardon?"

"Humiliating them, was it really necessary?" he reiterated following her into her quarters. She stripped out of her jacket as he tried to ignore her toned body.

She shook her head in confusion, "You might as well ask Ogun if it was really necessary to possess my body and make the ninja you saw today."

The partially closed door reflected the light off the objects on the counter. "Those farm boys aren't going to appreciate that. Neither is their master."

"As you saw today I can more than handle myself."

"That's not what I mean," he started heatedly. "You're only going to be here for six months. There's no need to make total fools of them."

She opened the door and stared at him, a towel wrapped around her body, "So, what do you want me to do?! Apologize? I'm not going to do that. I doubt that they'd be up to taking lessons from me anyway." Peter opened his mouth to continue the argument as the door opened and Jean and Lockheed came in. They looked at the two combatants in confusion. "Get out!" Kitty shouted. "I don't have to explain myself to you. Would you like to explain to your mother what you were doing in the women's quarters?"

The blast of emotions rocked Jean as Peter quickly took the hint and left. Kitty stormed back into the bathroom. Jean grinned as she leaned toward Lockheed to whisper, "They're fighting like they're married." Lockheed blew a smoke ring. Minutes later a knock sounded at the door. Jean opened it to find Alexandra standing outside. Jean invited her to enter just before Kitty exited the bathroom rubbing a towel through her we hair.

"Ms Pryde, may I sit?" Kitty nodded as Alexandra pursed her lips thoughtfully after sitting in a chair. "Your prowess at the square this afternoon was quite impressive. Many young women in the village are asking that you teach them what Yoshi has been teaching the men."

Kitty adjusted the towel upwards as it threatened to slip down, "That's not part of my contract."

"I realize this, but some of our girls make their way to the cities, and they could use some skills to…help themselves if they find themselves in uncomfortable situations."

Kitty and Jean looked at each other. Alexandra couldn't hear what the two were saying, but Kitty soon nodded. "All right, tell Nicholas he can make the announcement at dinner tonight."

Jean gave Kitty a sideways glance as the older woman left, "That was interesting. How are you going to teach them?"

"I have no idea," Kitty replied. As it turned out Kitty had some unexpected help. The next morning twelve women, two girls, and three men showed up for the class. Remy LeBeau also showed up and, after professing some skill in martial arts, offered to help. They all seemed eager to start jumping and hitting the moves that Kitty had performed the day before. Remy simply rolled his eyes and looked up at the sky as Kitty adjusted her gloves. "Be nice," she whispered. "They'll be disillusioned soon enough."

Kitty sat on the ground and motioned everyone to join her. Remy took up a stick behind him and announced, "We start out each morning with a greeting. Hello, my name is Remy LeBeau. I have some skill in martial arts." He handed the stick to the first student and the introductions went round until it reached Kitty.

"Hello, I am Kitty Pryde, and I have some skill in martial arts," her eyes looked around. "This is not only the talking stick, but it's the thumping stick. See, we're going to start out learning how to find our centers. This involves meditation. Now, I realize this means several of you will fall asleep," chuckles could be heard with this statement. "But if it's obvious, such as snoring or falling over, I will use this to thump you." She lightly tapped Ilyana's blonde head with the stick. She never saw Peter bristle over the perceived treatment of his sister. She only heard Ilyana's giggle.

The next few days not only included morning meetings in the village square but teaching the youngsters the ins and outs of today's computers and technology. This, coupled with Michael's attentions, took up her time pretty easily. One clear night she and Michael took a walk around the lake. "What's your story?" he finally asked.

"Oh, it's not much of one, really. I was born with the X-Gene which did my family a world of good, we moved up and my mom was able to get better medical care. At eleven I graduated from high school and started college. By the time I was thirteen I had my first doctorate, I think it was Paleontology, it's been a while. I went home because I started having these very intense headaches. One day Logan showed up with Lockheed and Lockheed latched onto me."

"How did you get a dragon?" he asked, very curious.

"Logan stumbled across their home world about six years ago. It was dying and he offered to take the survivors, about a hundred of them, back to Earth with them. The adults liked Earth so much they started breeding, no young had been hatched in twenty years I think is what they said. Their young have become attached to humans, and Lockheed apparently lead Logan to me on the day my power manifested." Michael looked at her curiously, "I can move the molecules of my body through that of most solid objects. That morning I lay down on my bed upstairs and found myself looking at Lockheed behind the couch in my living room, the downstairs living room."

They stopped on a strand of beach looking out over the lake, "He awakened my empathic talents, which is why I wear these," she said holding out her hands. "When I was fourteen I had my first boyfriend and he went out on some big adventure and broke up with me. I don't think the fact I was in college and he was still in high school helped there. I was so stunned I followed Logan on a trip to Japan and got stuck with being a martial arts master thanks to a dead man named Ogun. When I was sixteen I met Pete Wisdom and we eventually became engaged. Everyone kept telling me that it was a bad idea, I never believed them until he left me at the altar." Tears filled her eyes at the memory. "He's a good guy, we just should never, I was too young… Well, I'm not going to claim that I'm a virgin, but I was legal when it happened." Michael waited silently, "Look, Misha, I'm coming with baggage like you wouldn't believe. I haven't even touched what happened with Raven and Rogue, I'm not sure I ever will…" the whole speech was cut off as he kissed her. She was stunned at his forward behavior, but soon gave in, maybe this could work.

Rogue and Remy, only steps behind them, paused to watch the spectacle unfolding before them. "Wow," Remy said softly, "If she can find someone…"

Rogue smirked, "Yeah, then anyone can." The two twined bare fingers still stunned that it was possible. They skirted the lakeside clearing giving the two of them room, several other couples came upon them, including Jean and Scott. The only one who stuck around was Lockheed, he liked the man well enough, he just wanted to be sure she was safe.

The next morning saw the momentous arrival of Moira MacTaggart, Sean Cassidy, Peter Parker, and Captain America. Moira and Sean had the results of the genetics test run on Remy several days before and were here in person to run more tests. Peter and Captain America were here simply for one reason. Jean Grey was an old friend, and they were in the neighborhood.

Kitty's students had graduated to basic moves as the captain and web crawler came across. To most people's surprise he stepped in and helped, offering pointers here and there as the class came to an end. "Why don't you two duel?" Ilyana piped up startling both Kitty and Steve. Captain America was honored everywhere, a hero everyone, including Kitty, looked up to.

To Kitty's surprise he looked at her, "Why not? Are you up to it?" Kitty nodded as they took to opposite ends of the field. She wiped her face down with a towel as he divested himself of his shield.

The match turned into a surprising draw. They matched each other blow for blow and Kitty was drenched by the time she was spilled onto the ground by a sweeping kick that took her feet out from under he. What happened next stunned everyone into silence. She leaped up into the air with an overhead kick landing neatly on the left side of Steve's face and landing neatly on the right foot that had been tucked up under her. No one could remember her touching the ground, she just went from ground to air. "Oh, God, I'm sorry, are you all right? Sometimes I just do something and don't realize…" her voice trailed off as he grinned at her.

"So, they were right about Ogun, huh? I haven't had this good a fight since Logan," he reached up his hand and she took it, pulling him upright. Even he admired the way her muscles rippled under her skin. "Draw?" he asked, clasping his hands together and bowing in the ancient Zen master method.

She returned the gesture with a grin, "Draw."

"You were pulling your punches, right?" Jean asked.

Kitty stared at her, "It was all I could do to keep from getting flattened earlier. Let me get a shower and we'll head into the village."

They had planned a trip into the village to pick up more gloves, something a little warmer for Kitty's fingers especially. The thin ones she normally wore just weren't doing the job against the cold. A commotion in an alley caught their attention and they wandered over. At first they thought that Hank had been caught outside the compound. The flash of blue fur as the person ran down the street startled them. "That's not Hank," Jean muttered as they chased a group of five boys who were chasing the blue man.

They rounded the corner of the alley and the boys were menacing the poor thing. Not only was he fuzzy blue, but he had a forked tail and hands and feet that didn't have the normal amount of digits. He also appeared to be exhausted. "Hey," Kitty said, "Pick on someone your own size." The boys were wielding weapons as they turned. Kitty looked at Jean, "Lockheed, go get help!" she shouted at the small dragon. He took off as Jean and Kitty faced their opponents.

Kitty was hard pressed, when Jean went down she knew she was in trouble. A blow had landed on her knee and she was sure something had broken, but she was not going to allow someone helpless to get hurt. As she faced her opponents, three of them had gone down and she was still outnumbered and on one leg. She never heard someone coming in behind her, but she saw the armored form get in between her and the bat wielding men. He made short work of the brutes and turned toward her, "Piotr?" she asked, shocked.

**Ah, so Piotr's power is no longer hidden. Well, we all knew what it was to begin with, no great surprise. Again, as always, R&R. Give ideas, that sort of thing.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3:**

**Okay, here we go again. I'm moving this weekend, so I hope to get this out now. Wish me luck. No, still don't own them.**

**Okay, just in case ages are confusing here.**

**Kitty, Rogue and Jubilee are 19**

**Peter is 24, his brother, Michael, is 26**

**Scott and Remy are 25**

**Jean is 20**

**Kurt is 22**

**Alexandra and Nicholas are old enough to be grandparents**

**And Ilyana is 7, going on 30**

Kitty lay in her hospital bed, wearing her gloves, a hospital gown, and a sling holding up her right leg. Moira still wouldn't tell her what was wrong with her leg, how Jean was, who the new mutant was, or why Peter was still here. Not that she wasn't grateful for his timely intervention, but why did Lockheed pick him? She kept eyeing the phone, dreading making the necessary phone call to either Xavier or Logan. Oh, god, Logan, he'd bring Ororo with him, that was the last thing she'd need. She really did adore the woman, but she'd be coddled by her. Maybe Jean's injuries would divert her attention.

Kitty finally stopped staring at her cell phone and called, "Hey, Logan, it's Kitty. Look, there's been some trouble and Jean's been hurt…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

No one had seen Logan this mad before. Storm had known him for many years and they'd been lovers at one time, but the only thing that had stopped him from storming out of the mansion and flying across the world when the phone call had come was the plain and simple fact that she'd been sitting atop him at the time. Well, that wouldn't normally stop him but the Danger Room session that they'd been involved in ended up dumping her on him and about sixteen pounds of cement on top of that. They weren't going anywhere until someone came in and untangled them. Embarrassingly enough, two of their students, Hisako Ichiko and Pixie, along with a SWORD agent that Hank had been seeing, Abigail Brand, were the ones who did so.

Brand jumped at the chance to see Hank again and tagged along. Hisako and Pixie came along to experience other cultures. They also needed to see that sometimes the gifted and talented were hated. When they arrived, Kitty was groggily coming out of anesthesia from knee surgery performed to set her broken leg. Incoherent was one word to describe the conversation that followed and they ended up getting most of the story from Lockheed who looked amused at some of the "I love you's" that kept pouring from Kitty's mouth. Kitty, apparently, was a happy drunk. Jean was on a respirator to support her breathing, but expected to make a full recovery.

Logan finally turned to the three men in the room. Mikhail, who was holding Kitty's hand, sat glaring at everyone around. Peter, who, as impossible as it sounded, was even bigger than his cosmonaut brother, sulked in the hallway, and the blue, furry stranger that had brought the girls' help lay in a bed nearby. The pointed ears and yellow eyes brought the immediate nickname, "Fuzzy Elf," as Logan introduced. It was Raven, strangely enough, that provided the translation from German into English. Until someone actually asked if he spoke English, he immediately started speaking English and the rest was history. Kurt Wagner and Logan got along famously. Once Kitty got her glasses on and got a good look at him, she liked him. Lockheed ended up sleeping with him when Kitty had her surgery.

Jean, fortunately, was taken off the respirator after a few days and was able to wave good-bye to Kitty and Kurt as Moira released them from the infirmary. Remy had continued the martial arts class with help from Captain America who wanted to stick around and make sure Jean was all right. Peter spent the next few weeks trying to talk Kitty into signing a waiver for the pictures he took of her fight with Steve. She finally gave in and he gleefully e-mailed the pictures off to the Daily Bugle, and a few off to his girlfriend.

Mary Jane's e-mail went something like this: "I envy the physique on that woman and if I find her lipstick on your collar," well the rest should best be left to the imagination. Aunt May sent back an even simpler message: "LOL".

Kitty and Jean, after she too was released from the infirmary, found themselves living with the Rasputins. Michael and Ilyana were ecstatic, Piotr was less than enthusiastic. Moira's instructions to Kitty were simple, stay off the leg as much as possible. She even gave her a pair of crutches to enforce the order, but wasn't surprised when she showed up for their meeting with Remy, Rogue, and Raven who had become aware of the situation.

"The reason we came ourselves was the fact that the genetic tests were inconclusive. We've drawn blood, taken CAT scans, and done everything that we can to ascertain why Remy can touch you Rogue. The only thing we can come up with is that the two of you are just simply compatible." Remy reached out and stroked Rogue's cheek, it had become an oddly familiar and comforting gesture. Kitty was ecstatic, her friend was no longer alone.

Kitty walked out with Raven just behind her. Jubilee stood staring at the building behind them, envious of the couple, "Why can't I get that lucky?"

Kitty laughed and turned to Raven, "It's not perfect, but at least she's happy."

Raven's dark eyes looked at Kitty before she sighed, "You won't stop trying…"

"No, Raven I haven't stopped trying," Kitty held out her hand, stripping away her glove before doing so, "Truce?"

Raven stared at her hand, knowing it was the most vulnerable thing a talent could do, so she took her hand, "Truce."

"Kitty!" a startled shout came from the village square, Kitty and Raven travelled over to find Logan observing Yoshi's class. "Why haven't you done something about this?" he asked caustically.

"I did, Logan, ask the village."

"Their form is all wrong. How did you teach them?"

Raven laughed, "It took ten minutes but she took them all down."

Logan grinned, "My turn."

"Be nice," Kitty said before heading back to the headman's house. She needed a break and wanted to spend it with Mikhail. Instead, she ran into Piotr, he was everywhere. She couldn't get away from him, "What do you want?" she asked crankily.

"Are you going to rest?" he asked rather solicitously.

Kitty's face softened, "Yes."

Inside Kitty groaned as she could feel the sudden waves of anger rolling off him, "Why do you treat my sister like that?"

Astonished, Kitty gaped at him, "Like what?"

"The first day you got here, you ignored her when she asked you about your rucksack. Now, you're thumping her on the head with a stick, and she comes home with an awful lot of homework."

Kitty stared at him, "I was busy trying to get everything in the car before I talked to her about Lockheed. Everybody gets thumped by that stick, even Remy, and she's not even one of my students, oh, forget it," she muttered. She didn't even bother going around him, she just went through him. He stared at the space that she had just occupied, more than a little stunned that she could just ignore him like that. He seethed even more.

Kitty flung herself on the couch in front of the television and put her hands over her eyes. "Are you in the habit of throwing your crutches on the ground?" a voice asked.

She smiled at Michael as he wandered into the room, "No, I just had yet another argument with your brother. He is the most aggravating man I've ever met."

Michael laughed as he sat down beside her and drew her into his arms, "You didn't hear the stories I heard about my parents. I understand they could make the paint peal off the walls. Are you sure you're not having feelings for him?"

"Other than wanting to strangle him? No!" Michael laughed softly as he bent down and softly kissed her. She relaxed into it as he moved down to her neck and nibbled. He began to stroke her soft curves before they both heard a disgusted noise behind them.

They turned to find Ilyana standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, "Get a room!" she declared before storming off.

"How old did you say she was? Seven or thirty?" Kitty asked. Michael laughed.

"I don't suppose…" he asked. She shook her head, still not ready. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers again, secretly thrilled when she opened her mouth and allowed him to deepen the kiss. He also kept his hands in publicly acceptable places.

Peter exited the house, confused over the tumult of emotions rushing through him. He'd been told all his life that his parents would accept whoever he brought home. What he wasn't prepared to accept was the sudden surge of jealousy he felt when he saw Michael with Kitty. "Why don't'cha just admit you're not gay?" a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw Jubilee standing in front of him, "I mean, you do have the hots for your brother's girlfriend," she said, pointedly looking at his lap. He blushed a deep red as she thrust one of the books in her hands at him.

"Da, I enjoy women. Grigorii and I hang out," Peter said, referring to the man who would be referred to as the court dandy in old Europe. "My parents don't question me. I've had the freedom of not being pressured to find a girlfriend and settle down."

Grigorii appeared out of nowhere, "Did I hear my name said in vain? Girl, you have wrestled out our secret. What should we do with you?"

Jubilee stared at him for a full half second before laughing, he was so typically gay. "Your secret is safe with me. You know, I know someone in New York who'd be perfect for you."

Grigorii stared at her, "Give me a few days, I'll figure out who you're compatible with. Keep your friend in mind!" He said as he left without a backwards glance.

Piotr shook his head, "If he had a mutant power that would be it. He can tell who belongs together within seconds. Before you ask, he won't tell me. What is up with that?" he asked, pointing at Brand and Hank.

"They met during a mission off-world that went very badly. They lost a lot of people. I'm not entirely sure what they are, but they seem to have come to some sort of understanding."

Moira had promised that she could get off the crutches in two weeks. Two long interminable weeks later, Moira took away the hated things. Before she left she admonished, "I'll be back in two months. That brace is not to come off when you're not in bed!"

Meanwhile, Michael continued his pursuit of Kitty, Scott of Jean, and Remy of Rogue. Kurt Wagner proved to be popular, both as a ladies man and as a babysitter. He and Hank hit it off immediately, and unfortunately, Kurt thought of himself as suave and debonair. Which meant, since Brand had an obvious attraction for the blue fuzzy type, he tried his wiles on her. Brand was amused, Hank was horrified. Jean and Kitty took Hank aside, "Look, he's not really serious." Kitty said.

Hank looked down at her contemplatively. "You're sure? When are they taking to the States?"

"When they take Piotr back for testing," Kitty said. "Xavier said in about three months."

Fortunately for Hank's piece of mind, Brand returned to the Peak soon after. It was soon after that one of Mikhail's old girlfriends, Natasha, returned, with surprising news: she was pregnant.

**Hmmmm, what to do, what to do?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

**Also, we meet up with another familiar face. What did Michael do? Well, it should be a little obvious. What will Michael do? You'll see. Grigorii has somehow managed to take on a life of his own. Don't blame me, blame him! No still don't own them.**

Kitty fumed, as if it wasn't bad enough that Michael's old girlfriend showed up, Pete Wisdom was coming in too. She stood with Alexandra waiting for the plane to come in. "Why did he decide he needed to show up in the middle Siberia?" Kitty asked for the hundredth time. She was seated on a bench with her right leg stuck out in front of her.

"You mean in the middle of nowhere?" Alexandra smiled tolerantly at the younger girl. She had hoped that the girl would be her daughter-in-law. Fate seemed to dictate otherwise. Maybe she could talk her into sticking around in spite of her rogue of an older son. She had as about as much a chance of that as she did of talking Grigorii out of being a "little" flamboyant", or chasing her younger son.

Speaking of Grigorii, the upcoming nuptials of Mikhail and Natasha had turned on the evil wedding planner in him. At least she could count on him to keep things tasteful. The Black Air Jet landed on the tarmac and she heard Kitty sigh behind her. An average sized man with dark hair and blue eyes. He was disheveled and needed a shave. She honestly didn't know what make of him. She heard Kitty groan as he flashed her a charming smile, but his eyes narrowed as he saw her companion.

"'Ello luv," he said, eyes flashing.

"Wisdom," Kitty replied. "Well, come on, it's a long way back to the village."

"Pick on someone bigger than you?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her leg.

"Bigger than you," she muttered getting into the car.

The ride back was long and quiet. Alexandra sensed the tension between them. Kitty ignored Peter, and Pete kept his eye on the girl. It was only when Lockheed attacked the man when he exited the car did she realize to what extent this man was disliked. "Damn flying rat," she heard the man muttered. She put him with Kurt, and somehow the two managed to get along.

Piotr, meanwhile, hadn't heard about Natasha's pregnancy, but had seen the break-up. Kitty had looked down at the ground the entire time Mikhail explained the situation to her. Piotr had watched her look up and shake her head. He had watched as his brother reached a hand out to her. She laid her hand on his cheek, kissed it, and walked away. Piotr's hands clenched as he turned around, never seeing the other woman approach his brother. He also never watched his brother put his arm around the woman and walk away. Only Ilyana and Jean saw Kitty's tears, and witnessed the copious amount of tears she shed in her room. No one told Logan, he would've ripped the man's heart out and walked away.

Pete, on the other hand, was more than happy to try and fill the void. He was ostensibly there to double check the security measures around the compound, and Kitty and Remy's students witnessed both teachers using it on him more than once. Then the newspapers arrived with the pictures on the front.

"**American girl goes one on one with Captain America and it ends in a draw!**" screamed the headline. The picture was of Kitty's last kick to the head that had landed Steve in the Siberian soil.

Kitty stared at it in disbelief as Jean chuckled, "That would explain some of those e-mails." Kitty had received many e-mail offers trying to entice her to Hollywood to show off some of those moves. She declined, saying that she had been injured and was unable to perform up to her usual standards until the injury healed. Some of them had been quite persistent, and Jean had laughed telling Kitty that she was destined to be the next action hero. Kitty through a pillow at Jean and told her to find Scott and stop pestering her.

A few days later Remy sheepishly asked Alexandra to add him and Rogue to the nuptials list. It seems he knocked Rogue up. Kitty buried her face in a pillow upon hearing this. She laughed so hard she started to cry. Finally, Grigorii showed up and asked her to be his date to the wedding.

The coffee she had just begun to sip suddenly exited her nose, "Excuse me? Why are you asking me and not Peter?"

"Well," he drawled, "a boy's got to keep people guessing. Besides, I don't think Peter's going, and girl, I can't let you go with that awful man." He reached over and tugged the glove off her right hand, "Besides, I'm dying to know the story behind this fabulous ring. Please tell me he didn't give it to you."

Kitty stared at her hand and the hated ring for a few minutes before she sighed, "Three years ago I started my dissertation on the X-Gene and it's affects on the human population. Especially in regards to those who are talented, you know, the ones who have telepathic/empathic/teleportation skills. Most of these abilities are not always linked to the X-Gene, but some who are talented are also mutants."

"You and Jean being excellent examples," Grigorii stated astutely.

"Yes, I'm a mutant who also happens to be an empath," Kitty stared off into space, swallowing hard. "I was working with both Jean and Moira when Raven brought in her young adopted daughter, Anna Marie."

"Rogue," he stated.

Kitty nodded, "Rogue, she's a beautiful young woman with all the promise in the world. She's smart, charming, and, unfortunately, had just had encounter with Carol Danvers that left her with Carol's psyche in her head and the unfortunate Ms Danvers in a coma." She saw Grigorii wince. "We were working on a machine to put in Rogue's head, on the surface of the brain that she could control. Turn her powers on and off at command. Unfortunately, it was also that time when the Hellfire Club finally tracked me down and sent their White Queen after me."

Grigorii nodded, very few in the mutant community hadn't heard of the organization that manipulated the government from behind. "Emma Frost was charming, smooth and possessed everything that a sixteen year old girl could want. She lured me away from both the machine and working with Rogue to help her. To make a long story short, Emma walked into the lab while I was fine tuning the machine and she tried to make me go with her. When I refused she tried to telepathically force me to change my mind, she hadn't counted on Lockheed who went after her. She started flailing around with her arms and produced what I thought was a knife, it was a weapon, I just didn't know what kind. I was so terrified that I picked the machine up and shoved it right into her head, killing her naturally."

She heard Grigorii's gasp as she continued, "The machine was destroyed and we didn't have sufficient supplies to rebuild it, we may never. Two days later Sebastian Shaw came and told me the only way to make up for what I did was to take Emma's place in the council." Shame seemed to flood her face, "I failed Rogue, I killed Emma, and I found myself agreeing to this so that I could somehow make up for all the wrong I had done. Raven blames me, I can live with that. I stopped my dissertation on Genetics and left. I went back to Xavier's and the X-Men. Unfortunately, that's when I met Pete. I'm not up to explaining my relationship with him right now, so don't ask."

Grigorii nodded, this woman's bruised ego was worn on her sleeve, "The opal is, how is it you Americans say, your scarlet letter?"

"Yes," Kitty whispered. "It's what I was given when I accepted the position of the White Queen. I'm fortunate that I can wear gloves to hide that…thing. All right, if I don't find anybody else to go to the wedding with, and I go, I'll go with you."

"Girl, you won't regret it, by the way, there's only one person that I'll give you up for, and if you go with him, I'll be amazed. No, won't tell you who, you'll just have to figure it out yourself," he said as he strolled out the Rasputin door.

Kitty decided to go for a walk and unfortunately was not alone. Pete followed her and Peter followed them. Kitty looked at Pete warily, her heart had already been bruised, she didn't know what he wanted.

"I want you back, luv," he finally stated. "The worst thing I did was leaving you at the altar."

"Do you know what Romany said? She said never let you back in my life, you're not worth my while," she bit out.

"My own sister said that?" he muttered darkly. "Me own sister, you'd think…" he reached out roughly and grabbed her, dragging her to him and kissing her roughly. Peter never saw her go rigid. He just saw the kiss, he never witnessed her push herself violently out of his arms and deck him. She stormed away from the British spy angrily, not even caring that he was seeing stars.

Kitty reentered the house and stormed up the stairs. She stopped in front of a door and began to rub her leg, the unexpected exertions had caused pain in her healing leg. Suddenly, she heard another rough voice accuse her, "So, that's why you broke up with my brother. Because of that ninety pound weakling.

Kitty looked up and found Peter, this was the last thing she needed, "I didn't break up with Michael. Didn't you hear that he knocked a girl up?"

"He loves you!" he protested.

"So, I'm just supposed to ignore the presence of a baby boy! I can't do that. I've done enough harm in my life to not want to add that to the list!"

"So, you think that it's all right to play with his feelings," he backed her up to the door. She wasn't going anywhere. "Just like you've played everyone else in my family!"

"You're right, I'm evil!" Kitty shouted ripping off the glove from her hand. "See this! It makes me the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. You can't get any more evil than that!"

Peter half listened to her, his heart really wasn't even in the fight. When she showed him the opal he had enough, he shut her up the only way he knew how, he kissed her. He'd honestly tried to kiss a man like this, but Grigorii wasn't this soft, and didn't get such a quick reaction out of him as blood rushed toward his nether region.

_If you didn't want this, you'd have phased out of his arms and beaten him to a pulp by now_, Jean told Kitty telepathically. She, Raven, and Ilyana had come up the steps to prevent the mayhem that this fight sounded like it would end in when they witnessed the kiss. They also witnessed Kitty's pinwheeling arms, popped eyes, and loss of balance. With Jean's words Kitty found herself surrendering to the large man.

Peter never heard the conversation, but felt her open her mouth to his kiss. He allowed his hand to wander down her body before he picked her up by her buttocks and started fumbling for the door handle to the room behind him, which was conveniently his own. Kitty apparently became impatient with his fumbling as they suddenly disappeared _through_ the door.

"So," Ilyana said into the sudden and shocked silence, "He isn't gay."

"How old are you?" Raven asked, exasperatedly, "Seven or thirty?!"

Nicholas walked up the steps early the next morning. An emergency town council meeting had kept him occupied most of the night. He paused outside Peter's door as he realized that a glove was lying on the floor just outside the door. He paused and opened the door, thinking that one of Peter's friends had lost it. Hope suddenly flared as he thought that Peter had finally selected a partner. He opened the door and found Peter in bed, and he wasn't alone, as he thought. Nicholas' jaw dropped open as he realized that his son was, indeed, not gay.

Peter lay in bed, naked, with Kitty lying partially on top of him, also naked. They both were asleep and the covers were pushed down to just above Kitty's tush. He watched fascinated as Kitty's hand started to move down under the covers as a hand suddenly grabbed his ear and hauled him out of the doorway and propelled him down the hall.

"Nicholas Rasputin, what on earth are you doing?" Alexandra asked.

"Piotr, he's, he's, in bed with a woman!" he stated gleefully.

Alexandra quietly reopened the door to see what had occurred, she quickly shut the door and walked back to her room, "Well, maybe Grigorii will leave him alone now."

"What's Grigorii got to do with this?" he asked.

"Wait a minute, don't tell me that you're the only man in the village to **not know** that Grigorii is gay!" Alexandra left her stunned husband standing in the hallway.

An awkward silence fell over the breakfast table that morning. Jean was out in the common dining room spending it with Scott as Nicholas watched his younger son and his girlfriend eating side by side. All the adults had taken a sip of their chosen beverage when Ilyana piped up, "So, when are you two getting married?" The results were fairly predictable.

**Okay, I loved writing that last fight, it was actually almost as much fun as planning it. Let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Hank scolds Kitty about her activities the previous day. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. This one admittedly started out as a theory, and has taken on an amusing life of its own. After the recent end to the Astonishing X-Men, I think we all need it. As always, don't own it, sure wish I did though. Oh, well, Grigorii is mine, but if you want to borrow him, do me a favor and let me know, and give me credit.**

"Okay, Kitty," Hank said sternly in his office. "What did you do yesterday?"

Kitty sighed, "I went for a walk, and I had a fight with Wisdom. It was on my return home when I felt the pain in my knee."

"Any other activities that I should know about?" he asked crossly.

"Nothing that kept me on my feet," she muttered looking at the floor her face turning a bright shade of red. Peter, who had literally carried her in here after breakfast, looked everywhere but at Hank or Kitty.

"Okay, whatever happened during your…walk reinjured your knee. I don't want you on that knee, at all, even with crutches. So, unless someone is willing to carry you around, or Xavier is willing to let you borrow his wheel chair…" he let his voice trail off.

She stared at him, horrified. "You're sticking me in bed!"

"Worse, I'm sticking you in a cast!" he said sternly. He ended up having to put her out while he did so. She didn't throw a tantrum, but she was very unhappy when she awoke later that day. Peter shook his head and carried her back to the Rasputin house, setting her on the couch in the living area. He propped her leg up on pillows and got her some water. Grigorii was heartbroken, he had lost his date to the wedding as Kitty had been forbidden to go.

Rogue slyly invited Logan to come to the wedding and asked him to bring along Jubilee's friend, Trent, an interior designer. Kitty and Peter's morning started with a squawk as Ilyana landed on the bed, nearly on top of Lockheed, took another leap onto Peter's chest and proclaimed, "I'm going to be the most beautiful flower girl ever!" Kitty heard Peter's oomph as all the air seemed to leave his lungs.

"Snowflake!" Peter exclaimed, he was naked, and Kitty had an intuition as to what would happen that morning and threw on a nightshirt before going to sleep. "What did Mama tell you about knocking first?" the little girl laughed as Peter hastily reached for covers that had been left in disarray, and off his body.

Ilyana pouted, "Hey, it's not as if I haven't seen you and Mikhail naked, you are my brothers after all! Why does Kitty get to see you naked and I don't? Kitty, stop laughing, I'm serious, I need your help making me beautiful!"

"Ilyana, this is about Natasha and Rogue, not you," Kitty quipped. She threw the covers off and hopped to the bathroom. She found herself helping Ilyana braid her hair and any number of little things that could be done without moving around a lot. She sighed as both brides descended the stairs and exclaimed at how beautiful they were.

Natasha took her aside, "Are you really okay with this? I know Mikhail was…" She left it hanging.

"Well, let's just say, I've moved on," Kitty said, blushing. Natasha gave her a knowing glance, and promised to have someone bring her a piece of the cakes, which brightened Kitty's mood considerably, she loved chocolate.

Alexandra saw to it that Kitty was comfortably settled on the sofa before she left. Peter would have stayed except Alexandra reminded him that he was the best man. When Logan returned to the United States, Trent stayed behind.

Alexandra watched Peter and Kitty on the couch that evening. Kitty lay in his lap, a comforter covering her from the waist down. They spent as much time making out as talking. Alexandra had to admit that this was much better than their fighting. Nicholas, on the other hand, spent most of the first week after he found Kitty in Peter's bed, announcing to everyone who would listen that Peter had a girlfriend.

Kitty and Peter for their parts found themselves very comfortable with each other. In another month Kitty would return to Xavier's with both Peter and Kurt in tow. Alexandra considered asking Kitty to extend her contract. Nicholas laughed as he put his arm around her shoulder, "Her contract isn't ending next month. She's just needed to fly the plane!"

"I just want to see my children happy. I wonder what could be done to get Ilyana to the States when her power manifests?" Nicholas gave her a knowing smile as they left the young couple alone.

Peter held her in his arms and marveled how fast things changed. "Who thought of Trent?" he asked.

"Jubilee," she replied. She was getting used to seeing "The Young and the Restless" in Russian.

Logan had sized Peter up and decided that he was a real catch. Trent's verdict was, "Sweetie, if you weren't so straight, I'd go for you myself," he then set off to redecorate Grigorii's home. Trent was tall, fit, dark, and very handsome. Grigorii was drooling over the man.

Kitty sighed as she took her place at the controls of the Blackbird. Hank had finally cleared her for walking and the Rasputin family had moved to the family farm before she and Peter left for the States. Kurt was excited, it seems that he had never actually been to the US or on an airplane. The only downside was her leg was still in a brace, and Moira was said to be waiting for her to check on the knee. She sighed, a girl couldn't have everything.

Sure enough, Moira was in the hangar with Xavier, Logan, and several other prominent geneticists, physicians, and, worst of all, her ballet teacher, Stevie Hunter. Peter heard her groan, but recognized the talented choreographer and was thrilled to meet her. He watched Kitty puzzled as Stevie greeted the girl warmly and then started to scold her. Quietly, so no one could actually hear what was being said. Kitty stared at the ground, not saying a word, until Moira came over and commandeered her away from the dance instructor. Stevie wandered over and peered up at him, "You must be Peter."

"Da, you are famous," he said. Poor Piotr felt incredibly stupid as he blushed.

Stevie smiled, "I don't bite, well, not hard anyway. Kitty has been my prize student, when I learned about the injury, well, I wasn't happy."

"She dances?" he asked, surprised. Then he remembered her grace when fighting, "Well, that explains a lot."

"Seen her fight, huh? Never seen her dance?" Peter shook his head, "Well, Hank wouldn't have let her after that. She started dancing for me when she started going to Xavier's, and she continued as often as her schedule permitted. She's very talented."

Peter stared at her speechless. He'd thought he'd heard most of her story by now. He almost followed Stevie down to the infirmary when a young man with wings, Warren Worthington III, steered him another direction. "Don't worry," Warren whispered. "They'll take care of her."

Kurt's power was quite interesting. He teleported himself and could take several people with him. Unfortunately, the stench that accompanied this power left everyone coughing and choking. "Okay," Logan said, coughing, "We'll hold our breaths if we need to go somewhere with him." The prehensile tale and oddly shaped hands and feet made him extremely dexterous and agile. To everyone's amusement he and Lockheed frolicked on the ceiling. He picked his own name: Nightcrawler. Everyone still called Fuzzy Elf.

Piotr was almost immediately named Colossus. His metal change form translated into immense strength. They stopped testing him at five tons. Ororo laughed, "Kitty's been calling him 'Big Guy', I wonder what that's in reference to!"

Peter met up with Kitty for lunch. The brace was off her leg, but she looked disgruntled, "What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"Stevie," she muttered. "She's riding my case about dancing. Now, it'll be months before I'm up to doing any of it." Kitty gave Peter a sideways glance, "Stevie runs a studio near Xavier's, the Professor enrolled me when he learned I was interested, and had been dancing, since I was, oh, five maybe. She likes you, by the way."

Peter laughed, "Jetlag's catching up with me. Are we sharing?" Kitty nodded. When Lockheed caught up with them, they had fallen asleep on Kitty's old bed.

**I know, shorter than usual. I am moving tomorrow. Wanted to get this done now.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

by Starsinger

**The only way that the following would happen is by an act of God, or in this case, Goddess. I should know, I live in Dallas, all right, Fort Worth, same thing. I couldn't resist. As always I don't them. I'm just playing with them for a little while.**

It was snowing. As simple as that might seem, it was snowing in Dallas in August. Not only that, it was a down right blizzard. Blizzards didn't happen in Dallas, and it never snowed in August in Dallas. Unless you were the unfortunate band of the Friends of Humanity who happened to attract the attention of the Acolytes. The Friends of Humanity was a group run by a Reverend Stryker who hated anyone who was a mutant or a talent. So they were demonstrating in Dallas. The Acolytes were a group of Mutant Supremacists run by Apocalypse. Well, one of their group, Sabertooth, loved a good fight. So he decided this was as good a place as any.

When word came down Logan summoned all the mutants he could get his hands on, Kitty and Peter included. If there was anything he hated more than missing a good fight, it was missing a good fight with his arch-nemesis Sabertooth. The fight had gone splendidly, until Pyro set fire to Reunion Arena. Ororo decided to create a storm to douse the fire. Only, she over did it. It wasn't a thunderstorm, it was a blizzard. It stopped the fight, but there were a few opportunists. One such individual had decided to shimmy down an air vent that leads to a stove pipe. And this is how Kitty found herself upside down in the air vent rescuing the poor idiot who decided that this was the best way to break into a restaurant in order rob it. Kitty was not amused.

Kitty sighed with relief as she found him. She tackled him coming out of the stove and almost landed on a police officer waiting below. She heard laughter as she got off the would be thief and left him for the authorities. Coming out Kitty ran into the reason they knew the man was in there a CSI named Lisa Sanchez. Lisa was a mutant who put together traumatic scenes. Upon walking into one she could determine whether a crime was actually committed, and where the weapon was located. She couldn't tell who the perpetrators were, but her talent cut the processing time in half. She had been nearby at a drive-by shooting when she looked up at this building and saw the thief making his way down. By the time she was able to alert the police, it was too late, the man was stuck.

The anguished look on Lisa's supervisor's face when Hank asked him for permission to take Lisa for tests spoke volumes as to how much a valued member of the team she had become. "The sad part is," Kitty heard Lisa say, "The restaurant was still open. He could've just walked in the front door."

After promising to return her within the week, they made a quick stop to pick up her ferret, Prissy. They made a small detour to Toronto picked up Erik Lensherr; they were back off to New York. Erik Lensherr, without question, was one of the most powerful mutants alive. He was able to control metallic objects wit a mutant power that acted like a powerful magnet. He was also a powerful business man and friendly rival of one Charles Xavier. His computer manufacturing company and subsidiaries spread world wide rivaling the giants of the industry.

As he spoke with Kitty, Peter, and Lisa a fascinating tale began to emerge. At age fourteen he fled Nazi Germany with his family to escape the persecution of Jews preceding World War II. After wandering around Switzerland and several other neutral countries, his father, a jeweler, was granted immigration status to Canada. They left France just ahead of the invading German army and were among the last Jewish families to make it out before the war got into full swing. When Erik and his four brothers and one sister turned twenty-one they were given money by their father to do with as they pleased. They all started their own business, except Marta. She invested her money in Erik's company and now served on the board as a wealthy stockholder.

Erik himself was a widow, his wife Elaine died of cancer six years earlier. They had two children, Wanda and Pietro. Wanda had followed her father into the family business while Pietro, like his father, was a mutant and still trying to find himself. When Pietro's massive speediness suddenly developed one day during PE, Erik decided to try and set up a system like that in the US with regards to housing and training both talents and mutants.

When those with super-human powers had finally been recognized by the UN, many groups set off to train their own groups. Most of them tried to exclude either mutants or talents. When Xavier opened the school to anyone who could keep up with the course work, mutant, talent, or human. The fact that a few mutants were also turning out to be talents convinced him that this was the right thing to do. "You, my dear," he said pointing at Kitty, "are a prime example of what we're trying to accomplish by bringing the groups together. You lived with and group up with all three and fit into two of those categories without trying. I'm going nowhere near your intelligence. The goal is one day that those gloves won't be a 'brand' but a mark of honor."

Kitty sighed looking down at her hands. She'd often thought of the gloves as a curse. She wouldn't trade Lockheed for anything, but she often wished she didn't have to wear them. "Do you often wonder what might've happened if you'd stayed in Germany?" she finally asked.

Erik stared out the window of the speeding plane, "I had a dream about that once. My entire family was gunned down by the SS, yet somehow I survived. My powers prevented me from becoming killed. I turned bitter and evil, convinced the only way to peace with humans was to make them subservient to us. I did some terrible things…."

Kitty watched him closely, "That was only a dream."

Erik smiled, a paternal smile that held warmth as he looked at her, "Yes, it was. Strangely enough, the two of you were very much in love in that dream too." Startled, Kitty and Peter looked at each other and then at the old man. "Maybe it's my recent journey into Grandfatherhood that has made me want all young people to be happy," he shrugged. "For what it's worth, Katherine, you have my blessing."

As the old man walked away, Peter noticed a ring with the symbol of a hawk on the forefinger of his right hand. Kitty sighed as she noticed Peter looking, "He won't tell you if you ask, Peter, so don't. I only know because of my initiation into the Hellfire Club. By the way, Sebastian Shaw is likely to stop by before we return to Siberia to 'evaluate' your fitness as a suitor. Erik's blessing will go a long way to accepting you."

"Do I need it?" he asked frankly.

"No, probably not, it never hurts, though. I am one of the most powerful women in the United States, though most people have no idea that I am. Hey, the Black Bishop in England, Brian Braddock, is an old friend of mine, maybe I can get him, Meggan, and Betsey over to bolster our case." She noticed the look he gave her, "He inherited it from his father. He doesn't call on it very often, but the position's his for life, or when he has a son and gives it to him."

"He can only give it to his son?"

"Well, if I had a son and a daughter, as the White Queen, would I really be interested in giving that position to my son. No, don't answer that. I realize that if he was another Grigorii he might just do it." Peter watched as she pulled off her gloves. It was then he realized just how comfortable she was around these people. He looked around and saw his fellow mutants laughing.

Peter looked at her, "You didn't ask what happened to us."

"I was lost on a bullet that was supposed destroy the Earth. You were supposed to destroy a world, so they sent a 'bullet' to destroy the Earth. Apparently, the metals of this world were slowly killing me. I didn't know it until I phased into the heart of the bullet and was unable to phase out. In a last effort I phased the bullet through the Earth and that's the last anyone saw of me in his dream. I don't like that dream." Peter silently agreed with her.

"Mikhail's not really thrilled with us," he murmured into her hair. He put his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Michael lost any say in my life the moment we discovered Natasha was pregnant," she retorted. She watched as Peter nodded. They both looked up as Logan plopped into a seat across from them.

"You two are using birth control, right?" Kitty nodded. "Scott just called, Jeanie's preggers." He walked off as the two young lovers looked at each other.

"I'm going to get down on my knees and thank God for the invention of condoms when we get home," Kitty muttered. Peter looked at her startled, "I'm a little old-fashioned, not much I admit. I want to get married before I have kids."

Moira still sat her down and performed a full examination. At the end of it all Moira's verdict was simple, "Keep using birth control. You're in the middle of your fertile cycle right now."

"So, I'm not pregnant," Kitty said. Moira shook her head and sent her off with more birth control in a rather large variety. When they fell into bed that night they looked at each other, and swore off sex for the next two weeks. Three days later Sebastian Shaw showed up and Brian Braddock and company soon after. Meggan and Betsy tried to keep Kitty distracted as Shaw went over Peter's suitability. Fortunately, for everyone's piece of mind, Eric and Brian were in there with them. Like Kitty, Meggan wore thin gloves because she was an empath. They had become friends after Kitty had spent several years in England studying at Genetics with Moira. She had helped formed the European team, Excalibur, and only left after her abortive romance with Pete Wisdom, and the fiasco with the White Queen and Rogue.

Peter, on the other hand, felt like a prize stud on display for sale. With Peter's permission, Moira had given Shaw the medical work-up on Peter. The man looked like he would look right at home in the nineteenth century. His dress and language were stilted and antiquated that almost made Peter laugh. Brian looked at him and made a cutting motion across his throat, telling Peter to keep it in. "Most impressive, Mr. Rasputin. You come from strong peasant stock, I have no problems with that. Your fertile and compatible with Ms Pryde. I noticed that she's not pregnant, you're taking precautions?" Peter nodded. "Good. Well, I won't object to this relationship, and if you decide to marry you'll have my support. I think Russian blood would be good for the mix."

Shaw left and managed to look over Lisa as well. Her work-up intrigued him. Her power wasn't a major one, but the smaller, hidden powers tended to stump even the experts. Lisa and another mutant, Doug Ramsey, compared notes. His ability to translate any language, human or computer, made them instant friends. Then, there was Prissy. Prissy, was a cream-colored ferret with a black mask. Her little pink nose made the smaller kids at the school giggle and squeal as she raced around, and climbed into places no boy could possibly wish to go.

"I'm not going to have my husband selected for me, am I?" came her plaintive cry.

"No, I'm a special case," Kitty replied. She sighed, "Sorry, I've gotta go. Stevie's gonna put me through my paces." She left, making Lisa wonder whatever Kitty did to make a guy named Steve put her through her paces. Whatever that might be.

**Next, we return to Siberia. More chaos, mayhem, and Grigorii ensue!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

by Starsinger

**They return to Siberia. No, still don't own them.**

It was with a sigh of relief that Kitty pointed the Blackbird toward Siberia. Her sessions with Stevie had just proven how rusty she really was. To top it all off it had rained that morning and her hair decided that it needed to frizz. Naturally curly hair was such a pain. Lisa had proved an amusing new friend but they had to go on to their own destinations. Logan was aboard as well to take the plane back to Xavier's. Kurt had remained behind for more tests. She heard Peter sigh behind him, he was anxious to see his family.

The first sign of trouble was the line of smoking buildings where isolated farms once stood. By the time they reached Piotr's village, it looked like the Nazi army had marched through. Half the town had been razed while survivor's huddled in the remaining buildings and homes. Grigorii and Trent had taken charge, and were giving directions as they arrived. "I don't know, Piotr. We haven't had much contact with the outlying farms. We got word yesterday that the village to where your brother and his new wife had moved had been attacked. They're both alive but we haven't heard from your family…" his voice trailed off as the Blackbird took off. Lockheed relaying to Peter that Kitty and Logan were headed for his family's farmstead.

It seemed like hours before the plane returned. Another American jet and four Russian helicopters and two more jets joined them. When they disembarked Alexandra and Ilyana were with him, his father was nowhere to be seen. Logan shook his head quickly to Peter's questioning eyes. Kitty watched him as he came to grips with his father's death even as he swept his sister into his arms and put his arm around his mother.

Alexandra seemed to be shock. When they came to the compound, it was mostly intact. Hank and Jean were tending more wounded. The final horror came when Natasha finally arrived, Mikhail was missing. They were looking for Peter too. Logan and Xavier decided to remove Peter's family from Siberia and take them for safety to the US. Logan pointed the plane back to the East as Kitty spent time trying to comfort Ilyana and Alexandra. Natasha seemed wrapped up in her own world until she asked a sudden question, "What is Omega Red?"

Both Kitty and Logan looked up and at each other, "Omega Red?" Kitty asked. "Why do you ask?"

"That's who they said they were, Omega Red, the ones who attacked us."

Kitty and Logan exchanged a long knowing look, "It's something that'll help us find your husband." Kitty responded. Peter watched as Logan pulled a laptop from under a console and handed it to Kitty. Hank, Remy, Rogue, Jean, Scott and Raven had joined them for the trip back and were all looking at each other in confusion as Kitty pulled off her gloves and started typing. She pulled a headset on just before she started talking, "Hey, Erik, did you just get the e-mail I sent you? Okay, good." She paused as the man on the other end took up the conversation, "That's what she said, yes. All right, I'll see what I can find on this end. I'll call you when we get back to the mansion."

Peter sat down across from her with a serious look on his face. Kitty looked up and held up a hand asking him to hang on a second as she conversed with Charles Xavier and Sebastian Shaw. She shut the laptop and put it beside her before opening her mouth, "Near as Logan can remember he was subjected to tests and procedures that lined his skeleton with admantium and enhanced his immune system. That's his mutant ability aside from super-sensitive senses. The program was called Weapon X. Canadian in origin it experimented on several humans with mixed results. Several years ago Logan managed to shut it down and destroy the facilities, but before he did so he learned that the ones who started it had transplanted the program to the former Soviet Union, Omega Red."

Kitty reached over to take a sip of water, collecting her thoughts, "We've heard of kidnappings. Several of their 'subjects' were returned, but often they were so damaged mentally they had to be institutionalized. Your brother's ability to bend reality and your metallic mutation would make you prime targets…" her voice trailed off as another thought struck her. She opened up the laptop and zipped off another e-mail, "I'm contacting a woman named Sage. She can tell what a mutation's going to turn into, even when the subject is very young. We'll see what she has to say about Ilyana."

Raven walked over and sat down, "This is big trouble, Kit, Omega Red isn't something to mess with."

Kitty sighed and looked out the window, "I'm well aware of this Raven. That's why we're removing the family from the situation." She handed the laptop to Raven, "Your turn." Raven nodded as Kitty rose and went back to Alexandra, gloves slapping against her upper thigh.

Peter watched as she talked to his family. She was kind, compassionate, and understanding. His thoughts were interrupted, "You could do worse than the good doctor, Peter." Startled, he looked up at Raven as she resumed her normal form. He'd never seen it and was startled at just how blue she was. "Look, I'm admittedly not her biggest fan, but she's given you her heart, be careful what you do with it."

This left Piotr stunned. She continued, oblivious to his reaction, "I'm a lot older than I look, Logan is too. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Peter wandered back to where Kitty was sitting. She was describing the mansion to Ilyana and Alexandra. He stunned everyone as he knelt down in front of her, "Katya, I realize that we haven't known each other for all that long, but I feel complete with you. Will you marry me?"

Kitty sat speechless as Alexandra and Ilyana urged her to say yes. "Yes, Peter, I'll marry you," she whispered. Nothing had seemed clearer than in that moment on the plane. Maybe nothing would come of it, and they wouldn't get married, but this small moment of happiness on a terrible day. Ilyana and Alexandra came over to hug her, even Natasha seemed to break out of her depression long enough to join them. Logan, Jean and Raven shared a knowing grin.

Minutes passed as Alexandra stared at her own rings, the ones Nicholas had given her. Natasha's wedding had happened so fast that a wedding band couldn't be found, and Peter hadn't prepared himself with an engagement ring. Alexandra pulled off the engagement ring and with tears in her eyes pressed into Peter's hand. He was not nearly as stunned as Natasha who was the recipient of Alexandra's wedding band. Peter slipped the ring onto Kitty's hand while Natasha slipped the one she had been given. The young woman broke and started to cry, Alexandra joined her and put her arm around her. "Natasha, we'll do our best to find Mikhail and bring him back alive," Kitty murmured.

Natasha nodded, "Thank you, could you see…what my baby is?"

Kitty motioned to Jean to give her a "hand", "It might be a little early." Kitty placed her ungloved hand on the girl's abdomen clearing her mind. Jean gave helped her in isolating all the other emotions in the cabin as she closed her eyes. Her concentration was absolute as she found what she was "looking" for and looked and Jean for confirmation. Jean nodded her head. Kitty laughed, "Twin boys, and as far as we can tell they're doing fine." She tugged Natasha's blouse back down as the girl let the tears flow freely. "At least she'll have something of Mikhail's," Kitty murmured to Peter. He gave her a stricken look, "I don't think he's dead," she told him. "But these programs aren't known for keeping their subjects mentally healthy. Look at Logan. Amnesia was probably the kindest thing that they gave him."

The rest of the flight was painfully silent. It was broken moment after landing as Kitty received a phone call from Brian Braddock. "All right, I'll tell him. Thanks Brian, I'll call Sebastian after I tell Logan. Yeah, I'll get Xavier on the conference as well. Well, we do have a few people we need to settle. Hang on, we've landed," she ended the conversation by handing the phone to Logan.

Kitty grabbed the laptop computer and escorted her guests off the plane. Kurt approached them and bowed, "Professor Xavier asked me to show them to their rooms and help get them settled. He wants you, Logan, and Peter in his office now, Sage will join you shortly." Kitty nodded as she pulled her gloves back on.

Sage gave Alexandra the creeps. Sage had stripped off one of her gloves long enough to rest on the top of Ilyana's head and then walked away. Alexandra looked at Natasha, "What was that all about?" Natasha shrugged and Kurt gave her a puzzled look. Apparently he hadn't encountered the strange woman either.

Kitty looked up as Sage rendered her verdict on Ilyana, "Teleporter, not sure how, but she'll be able to move large amounts of people and things while she's at it."

Xavier sat at one end of the table. His wheelchair pushed up to it also typing into another computer. "Kitty, can you fine tune Cerebro? Try to get it to zero in on Mikhail and his particular mutation?"

"I'll need Jean's help, or yours. I'm not a telepath," she said.

"You'll have it," Jean announced entering the room. "I can't help you any other way," she said with an apologetic smile.

"Well, some of were more careful than others," Kitty teased as Rogue and Remy walked in. Both Jean and Rogue had the decency to blush. Kitty rose and motioned to Jean, Peter watched as they left the room.

"Peter, I understand that Kitty gave you a basic idea what we're dealing with?" he continued at Peter's nod. "Unfortunately, all we can do is wait. Kitty is working on a computer that can find mutants. We're hoping to find your brother with it." Xavier frowned, "Are you two engaged?" Peter blushed. "You'll share her room then. Lockheed will adapt." The sound of a raspberry being blown made him well aware of the dragon's feelings on the subject. Kitty had told Peter that Lockheed liked Peter's bed back in Siberia. It was big enough to hold the three of them without the danger of Lockheed's getting kicked. "See to your family, I'll let you know of any updates."

Peter nodded and proceeded back to Kitty's rooms. His family had been given rooms down the hall and he found Ilyana outside crying. He didn't ask what was wrong, he simply pulled her into his arms and let her cry. Later, they went for a walk in the woods. The normal sounds of birds and squirrels soothed her, although when a little black and grey fellow with a ringed tail and a black mask dashed across their path she screamed in fright. Fortunately, the poor animal was more scared of them than they of it and it ran off.

They came to the lake, peaceful and large. The blue water lapped on the shore as they both watched the sunset. As dusk settled onto the land they held hands. The familiar sounds of crickets and birds surrounded them. The looked up as a flock of geese honked overhead before coming into settle on the lake for the night. The moon rose full and large over the lake casting its light over the horizon.

As they turned back for the mansion Peter heard Xavier's summons, "Come to my office. We found something."

**Okay there's a story behind the raccoon. A couple of days ago I was going up to the meeting place at work where we get our initial assignments when I heard a squeal. Then a conversation that went along these lines: It's young! Don't touch it, it has rabies! It can't get out! Well, you get the picture. So, when I got there they were standing around a trashcan, and when I peered in, sure enough, a raccoon was peering back up at us. After several conversations about what should be done, we finally tumped the trashcan over and it scurried away. It was more scared of us, well, you get the idea. As always, input welcome. Since I've made Magneto a bad guy, which good guy do you think would be an excellent bad guy. Please, choose someone who I haven't all ready set up one way or the other.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

**Okay, what happens in the bedroom scene I couldn't resist? Joss Whedon's fault, as we all know. Although Kitty did blame it on Peter! No, still don't own them!**

Kitty stood staring out the bay window of the mansion. She had lived here off and on since she was nearly fourteen. Stared down demon aliens and nearly died on that abortive mission to the Breakworld. Something she hadn't divulged to Peter. The six months she had lost on board that bullet riding it to oblivion were a complete blank to her. That whole mission had occurred right after her break-up with Wisdom, so the sacrifice hadn't seemed so hard then.

Logan had thrown Pete out after her return. Brand had lost eighty people on the mission, but she was the only X-Man lost. As Brand ruefully admitted, you couldn't keep a good mutant down. Her hands wrapped around her elbows as she waited for Peter and Ilyana to return. Ororo came down to stand next to her. The foyer was dark except for the full moon beaming down on the two women. "You're going to have to tell him," Ororo murmured.

Kitty sighed; the whole Breakworld incident was something she'd rather leave behind. Xavier had encouraged her to take the contract to Siberia when Moira announced that she was fit enough for her duties. She turned around leaned against the windows. "Ororo, I don't need this right now," she started.

"How much of your knee injury was your pushing yourself too far. You heard what Moira said when she released you. I saw those pictures of your fight with Steve!" Ororo paused, looking at her. "I care for you, Kitten. I'm still convinced you knew what was happening to your body and allowed yourself to be trapped deliberately."

"How dare you?" Kitty hissed. "How dare you even insinuate that I would put myself through that deliberately. You have no idea how painful that was," she gulped deep breaths as tears threatened to pour.

"Listen to me, you were devastated when Pete didn't show and left you at the altar. He's a pig. Peter, he's completely different. He needs to know everything," Ororo walked away.

When Peter and Ilyana returned to the mansion Kitty was sitting in the foyer crying. Peter didn't need to be an empath to realize something was wrong. Peter sat down next to her and put his arms around her as she spilled the whole tale. "Peter, they're not sure of the effects of all that metal on my body. I might not be able to have children," he felt her sigh.

Peter kissed her head softly, reassuringly, "Katya, it's all right. If you can't have children, we'll adopt. People are frightened when they have mutant children and abandon them. Look at Kurt." His reassuring words went along way to allaying her fears. Alexandra heard the whole conversation as she descended the stairs. She watched the young couple with tears in her eyes. Love like this only came once in a lifetime. "What was it Moira said about your fertile cycle, then?"

"Well, my cycle hasn't been affected," she murmured. "That's why I've always been careful."

They looked up as Peter's mother approached them, "Kitty, the Professor wanted to see you." Kitty nodded and scurried off.

Peter looked up at his mother who folded her legs up and sat beside him, "You heard?" she nodded. She had grown to care for Kitty and honestly didn't care how they gave her grandchildren.

"She cried for days when she learned she might not have children," a voice intruded into their private moment. They looked up to find Ororo standing there. "I understood they had to be realistic with her, but the truth is they don't know." The older woman sighed, "You're lucky, Peter. You weren't there when they said she might never come back. Please, be careful with her. I know she puts on a brave, tough exterior, but really she's still very fragile."

Kitty and Ororo passed each other on the stairs. Kitty had a piece of paper clutched in her hands, and she barely noticed everyone around her as she turned a light on in the foyer and hurried over to Peter and Alexandra. She had thrown on a tank top and a pair of sweats while she had been upstairs. The assured self-confident strides that carried her quickly across the room had brought much admiration from men, and her toned body had brought envy from women both in the US and in Siberia. Part of her mystery was that she tended to be very shy and self-conscious, especially about her body. "If you may not be able to have children, then why is the Hellfire Club so interested in you?" Peter finally asked.

Kitty stopped and blinked, "One of their seers, Perfection, made a prophecy about me and my children. I don't know the details, but they're supposed to be the salvation of mankind or something to that effect. I guess they don't want to take any chances. Well, that and she's never been wrong," she finished with a shrug. She thrust the paper that turned out to be a map of Siberia at them. "Is this at all familiar to you?"

The map was a cartographer's map. It presented contours and colors to mark the differences in terrain in the land. Although this part of Siberia was pretty much hilly tundra, Lake Baikal and several forests could be seen clearly. She also knew several of the villages that dotted the landscape. The ominous looking fortress that appeared at the northern end was unknown to her. "I've never seen that place before. There haven't been any military installations built up there before."

"We don't think it's military, not official Russian military anyway. Raven's going up there tomorrow. Her shape-shifting powers should do the trick. Come on, there's nothing more we can do tonight. Let's go to bed." Peter was meticulous when they went to bed, the second thing, after her shoes, that came off her were her gloves, if she was wearing them. He had a finger fetish and set about nibbling the fingertips almost immediately.

Logan was downstairs. Weapon X still haunted him years after its demise. He sat on the couch with his hands between his knees. The bone-deep weariness he felt now even his super-healing factor couldn't help. Ororo entered and handed him a cup of tea. Not what he wanted right now, but beggars couldn't be choosers, he thought with a wry grin. She reached over and turned on the television, not really interested in anything just wanting something in the room other than Logan's brooding. "Hey, we'll find them," she said.

"I know," he responded, "it's just that…"

He never finished the sentence as another voice joined them unexpectedly, "Oh my God."

"Punkin?" "Kitten?" came the dual responses as they watched the throw blanket disappear from the back of the couch.

"Oh, my god," Kitty muttered again as she wrapped the blanket around her and made a dash for the stairs leaving her friends gaping.

They stared at each other for long moments before Logan finally replied, "So, how much do you wanna bet Kitty's bedroom is right above this one?" Ororo waited half a second before she started laughing. Logan's deep chuckle soon followed. "You wanna go get somethin' to eat?" he asked.

"What, are you going to try to put me through the floor too?" she asked whimsically.

"You never know," he replied as they walked out the door in search of a late night burger joint.

The next day Kitty's oldest brother, Kael, showed up at the mansion. Like his sister, Kael was a talent possessing a mid-level telepathic talent that they hoped would help in locating the missing mutants. More reports were coming in from Siberia and many other parts of rural Russia, Ukraine, and other countries with vast tracts of land with isolated villages. Even China had started sending in reports from Nepal and Mongolia. Kael had come out looking so different from either of his parents that a DNA test was done just to make sure they were his parents. How Carmen and Theresa Pryde produced a boy who was six feet tall, blonde haired and blue eyed stumped even the experts in the field. That is until Theresa's Father, Joseph, showed up for the birth and proved where it had come from. Joseph's piercing blue eyes joined his grandson's as they entered the mansion.

"Grandpa!" Kitty squealed as she pelted down the stairs. She gave him an enthusiastic hug and kiss. She soon accosted her brother who also returned the affection.

"Erik is unable to get here for a couple of days, so he asked me to come down. Kael decided to join me. Who is this?" he asked looking behind her.

Kitty turned and found Peter looming behind her. "Grandpa, Kael, this is Piotr Rasputin, he's my fiancé," she said with a blush.

Kael reached out a gloved hand and grasped Peter's, "A pleasure, Piotr. Are you a mutant?" His eyes went wide as Peter's metallic form powered up in front of him.

Joseph reached over and shook his hand. Peter was almost shocked to realize the old man didn't wear gloves. Joseph chuckled, "They didn't start testing the family until Kitty turned out to be an empath. The middle son, Wade, is also a telepath. Aidan appears to be completely normal." They turned as Ilyana and Alexandra descended the stairs. "Who are these lovely ladies?"

Kitty stifled a laugh as she introduced Peter's sister and mother. They all turned as a new voice asked, "Well, how do I look?" It was a young man with a crisply pressed uniform of the Russian army.

"You forgot the colonel's bars," Peter said.

The "young" soldier sighed as the bars appeared out of the blue. He nodded as he headed out the door with Logan and Ororo following him. They would leave him at a secluded woods about three miles from the fortress and about a mile from the main road. "I'm never going to get used to that," Alexandra muttered.

They all knew this would take time. The reports of pregnant women and children being taken also became harder to bear as they put a lockdown on Natasha and her unborn sons, and Jean and Rogue and their unborn daughters also found themselves confined to grounds, and they glared at Kitty as she managed most of the shopping and other errands that needed to be done. When Kitty, Alexandra, Peter, and Ilyana went out to see the new "Indiana Jones" movie things started to get thrown around. They brought home souvenirs.

Meanwhile, Erik and Charles pursued Alexandra. They took her out and treated her in ways that would have scandalized her former Siberian home considering her recent widowhood. She laughed and told the children to never mind the attention, it helped distract her from the all too lonely bed she faced every night.

Kael worked with Jean and Xavier every night in an attempt to locate more possible bases for this new program. Logan's reasoning was simple, "If they're smart, they'll have a back up. We need to know where they are just to be safe."

Peter came to know two of his future in laws. Kael was a solid man who had married at twenty-one and had three children. Joseph had been married for fifty-three years to his Russian wife, Anya. He was friendly to Alexandra and Ilyana and even invited them over for dinner when they got the time. It was the only dinner invitation outside the institute that she accepted. She didn't want to leave Natasha.

Late one night Kitty awoke in a cold sweat. A bad dream she kept telling herself. She didn't get premonitions. She glanced over at Peter and Lockheed who slept quietly together and glanced at the time on the clock. It read 2 am. She glanced out of the window pushing the sweat drenched hair out of her eyes as Xavier's voice sounded in her head. _It's time, Raven's given the word. Let's take this place down._

As they dressed Kitty frowned, she noticed a slight bulge in the suit as she zipped it up. She shrugged it off; she'd been eating a lot more lately. Hank hadn't said that anything was wrong when she had her check-up the week before. She tried breathing deeply as Logan had taught her to calm herself, but she couldn't help but think something was going to go terribly wrong. The battle started with a bang as Kitty and Logan snuck a few pounds of C4 throughout the compound. She grabbed her flash drive and headed down into the base with Raven and Lockheed in tow.

As they went down it got harder and harder for them to concentrate. It felt like something was trying to scramble their brain patterns. They found the cells and the computers. Raven concentrated on getting the prisoners out while Kitty got the computer's information downloaded onto the flash drive. They both looked up as an explosion rocked nearby. Kitty thrust the drive at Raven, "Get this up to Hank; I've got a couple of more places to check out. Raven watched helplessly as she hurried through a wall.

For Peter the mission was easy. Nothing could really penetrate his armored form. He watched as the women disappeared underground with their purple escort. He shrugged as he bent a tank gun in half. The machine guns he brushed aside. He looked over and the rest of his team was having a tougher time of it, but Logan's berserker laugh hinted at the fun he was having. He looked up to see the people straggling out of the base, and was overjoyed to see his brother among the prisoners.

Then it happened, the base blew itself to the heavens flattening all within range. "Oh, god, no!" he heard Raven cry. "Kitty's still in there!"

Peter's heart lurched in his chest as he ran into the flames Raven and Logan chasing after him. His advantage was that he didn't need to breathe in his metal form was finally overcome with how white hot he became. Logan and Raven finally managed to get him to leave the inferno that engulfed the base. Peter fell to the ground, bereft of all feeling, except one: she was gone.

SHIELD came in to take care of the survivors. The X-Men's ride home was a long and quiet one as they realized that another, Jubilee, hadn't made it out of the base either. They would mourn, but Peter would never be the same.

**Are Kitty and Jubilee dead? What will happen to Peter? Stay tuned to find out! I'm mean, I know it!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

**Okay, I admit it. This is becoming quite ambitious. If anyone else would like to dabble in this universe, be my guest. No, still don't own them.**

Alexandra sat in the garden and cried. It was unfair. She and Nicholas had spent thirty-eight years together. Thirty-eight wonderful years and three great children they even had two grandsons on the way. It was unfair that Kitty and Peter didn't even have a year. Natasha and Mikhail had more than a year, but they were saying his sanity was questionable. He was being transferred to Muir Island within the week. Natasha was staying here until at least after the babies were born.

So, it was a long slow road back as the Rasputins as a whole tried to heal broken hearts. The Pryde family took them into their hearts. When Theresa, Carmen, Wade, Kael, Joseph, Anya, and the various grandchildren showed up for the memorial service Theresa and Alexandra held each other as the other cried.

After the memorial broke up and everyone moved inside Logan and Theresa found Peter still seated outside. They both sat next to him Terri putting her arm around his shoulders. "She loved you very much," Terri murmured. He nodded still unsure as to where his life would go.

The Alexandra and Ilyana remained in New York after receiving a Visa from the government. Natasha went to Scotland to be near her husband after the boys were born. She named them Mikhail and Nicholas. Alexandra became a kind of den mother for the younger students at the school. Ilyana started school at Salem Center Elementary, and Peter simply disappeared. They woke up the morning after the memorial and he was simply gone. Alexandra sighed, "I'm not surprised. He never took these things well. First his father and then Kitty…" Ororo put her arms around the woman as tears threatened again.

Katherine Darkholme and Rachael Summers were born in mid-summer. Both were beautiful babies although Rachael's shock of red hair caused some amusement to the population of the mansion. Logan sat up late one night talking about that mission and wondering about Peter's whereabouts. Logan looked up, "Who was it we found who could put together a crime scene?"

"Lisa Sanchez is down in Dallas. Why, are you thinking about taking her out to Siberia?" Scott asked as Logan's cell phone rang.

"Hello? Oh, hi Lisa, we were just talking about you. Really? Thanks for letting us know, hey, could you go out to Siberia with us tomorrow? Uh-huh, well, we think it might answer some questions. All right, see you tomorrow," Logan hung up the phone with a grim smile. "She called to let us know that Peter's down in Dallas. He's working as a police sketch artist."

They both nodded as they went off to bed. The next morning Logan relieved Alexandra's mind before heading off to Dallas. Lisa looked somber and bundled up as she looked over the ruins. "Wow," she said into the echoing silence, "you guys really don't do things halfway, do you?" He watched as she started at one point and followed a trail only she could see. "My problem, Logan, is I don't see faces, only shapes, but I am familiar with the way Kitty looked enough to be able to follow her 'shape'." He watched patiently as she did what her own boss said she did best, she followed the trail. She stopped at the edge of the burn area and beckoned him over. She was bending over as he approached, "Is this significant?"

What Logan saw was the second of the two flash drives Kitty had taken with her. What was significant was that it wasn't burned. "She's not dead," he said with a smile."

"That's my guess. Two bodies, one of them hers, wound up here. A large man picked them up and carried them away. Before he found them however, she ripped this off her neck," he watched her shudder.

"Sabertooth," he said. He had no doubt who had captured his young friend. "You didn't meet Jubilee, did you?"

She shook her head, "No, but the other shape was female." She pointed in a vaguely northern direction, "He took them that way."

"Do me a favor, don't say anything to Pete. I don't want to get his hopes up," his smile was feral, "but that doesn't mean I won't be hunting."

When he got home that night he had a long talk with Scott, "So, if they've got them, what are they doing with them?"

"I'm going down to ask Hank a question. There was something odd I noticed about Kitty before that last mission," Logan muttered.

Hank answered their question frankly, "Yes, she was pregnant. She left before I could tell her," he took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. "Look, let me be blunt. If she is still alive, I give her maybe three more weeks before the baby comes." The other two men nodded and contacted Kael. They needed his help finding his sister.

Wade came instead, as Joseph put it the other brother had a better finder. "I thought Kitty couldn't have kids," Wade said.

"No, it was a possibility, but not a certainty," Hank answered. They had also managed to get a hold of Doug Ramsay's gift with computers was rivaled only by Kitty's. If anyone could get information off that drive, he could.

"Wow," Doug was saying as he looked over the files, "no wonder they wouldn't want her to get away." The files were blueprints to a huge base. "I'm willing to bet if she hadn't pulled that out she would've made it back to the plane." A call was put out to Raven, she flowed in and her eyes went wide at the schematics.

"Do you know where it is?" she asked.

"No, and we don't have much time," Hank muttered. "We have information that they're experimenting on women and the unborn there."

"Animals!" she muttered angrily. She stalked upstairs to make contact with more people, try the ordinary way to find this base.

"So," Scott said into the silence, "How do we get Peter back here without getting his hopes up?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Peter was lost. The day after Katya's memorial he was on the road. He didn't want to be where he would be constantly reminded of her. He would keep in contact with his Mother and sister. His father and Katya were gone and he never got the chance to say good-bye. He got on the bike that he "borrowed" from Logan and headed south.

Early spring was a beautiful time for the eastern seaboard as the trees put on their full foliage and the birds revved up to find their mates. He didn't know or even care where he was going. Several weeks passed as he drove. He refused to watch the earth as she awoke from her long nap and put on her best spring clothes.

It was when he was staring at Dallas' West End and Lisa was calling his name with a puzzled look on her face that he realized where he really was. She had gone out for a night on the town and caught the light rail to Union Station. It was there that he found her. As he looked at her he realized just how much she looked like Kitty. She ended taking him home and putting him on the couch.

The next night she took her latest "lost soul" home to her mother. Mrs. Sanchez took one look at him and gave her daughter a long look. He moved in to the spare bedroom the next day. Neither could resist a wandering spirit, especially when Lisa could back up his unfortunate story. The next weeks found him exploring his new home. He soon located a Hobby Lobby and found himself picking up a sketchpad and pencils.

Peter's first experience with Tex-Mex cuisine was quite an education. He ordered a cheese enchilada platter and ended up choking on the picante sauce while everyone around wolfed it down like it was ranch dip. His Russian born appetite had not prepared for the spicy food he had just ingested. The next day he had pizza. The Sanchez's lived in a modest three bedroom home in the northern Dallas suburb of Garland. It didn't take long for him to fit in to the neighborhood. They were largely descended from immigrants and immigrants themselves.

Peter fell into the sketch artist job accidentally. He was sketching a little girl sitting at a corner café when Lisa looked over. She whistled, "Wow, you're good. Need a job?" He cocked an ironic eyebrow. She dragged him to her boss who took him to the police department and managed to get him a job. They were even talking about training him for forensic reconstruction. Sketching what Lisa saw, putting a face on bones, that sort of thing.

He heard her make the phone call to the mansion, she'd been having dinner with the family when she picked up the phone. He sighed as she talked to Logan. "Yeah, sure, see you tomorrow," she hung up the phone. "Huh, Logan wants me to see something at the mansion."

"There been an accident?" he asked.

"Something like that," she replied. "It'll be good to get out for a while. Good thing I'm off tomorrow."

He watched as she headed out the door. They had fallen into an easy relationship that hadn't progressed any further than friendship. Lisa's mother shook her head, her daughter didn't lie easily. Fortunately, Peter still couldn't read her easily. She'd get the full story out of her tomorrow.

Two weeks later Logan called, saying that they'd found another Omega Red base, this time in the Ukraine. He agreed to go on the mission. He wanted blood. He wanted a measure of revenge for his father and his Katya.

Hank watched Peter as the meeting commenced. Logan had teamed the two of them together along with Rahne, whose nose might come in handy, to go down and free prisoners. Hank's presence was essential as there was no telling how close these ladies might be to delivery. Hank followed Peter as he and Rahne went through the breach in the wall that more explosives caused planted by Wolverine. Everything was a smoky mess, as Raven pointed out, it looked a lot like the last mission of this kind that they had gone on. With one exception: giant killer robots were stomping their way.

"Sentinels?" Rahne exclaimed, "These guys are serious!"

Peter looked up as Logan and the others looked grimly toward the robots. Logan looked at Peter speculatively, "Do you think you can toss me at them?" Peter grinned back at the older man and grabbed a hold of his belt. The toss was quite spectacular as Peter's aim was quite good. Wolverine started tearing through the first Sentinel's eye. All eyes were distracted as Peter's team headed into the building.

The smoky confusion separated Peter from Hank and Rahne. Hank and Rahne worked their way downstairs. He heard voices but he counted on Rahne to keep everything separate. She nodded her head and lead the way. Her werewolf form kept her senses sharp. They found the medical bay and took out the guards and most of the medical staff. They went along freeing women and young children as they went. Many of the women were pregnant and some of the women looked like the experiments went terribly wrong.

Soon they heard a scream of a woman in great pain. They heard another voice trying to calm the first desperately. Rahne wrenched open the door and Hank hurried in. The women were on the floor. Both were pregnant one clearly in hard labor. Hank knelt down to examine the first woman. She was very close to giving birth.

"Okay, look at me," he said, taking her hand. "On your next contraction I need you to push." Hank heard a great inrush of air as Peter found them.

**Who are they? Why is Hank and Peter so stunned. Well, next chapter will be up on Saturday. No, I'm not mean, I'm just plain cruel. Please R&R.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

**Lisa, Trent, Prissy, and Grigorii, are mine, you can play with them if you want to, just let me know. The rest I still don't own.**

"Okay, look at me," he said, taking her hand. "On your next contraction I need you to push." Hank heard a great inrush of air as Peter found them. Kitty looked up, her face soaked with sweat. Relief washed over both hers and Jubilee's faces as they recognized Hank. Kitty started to push letting out a long groan of pain and weariness as Hank concentrated on doing his job. Peter landed next to her and took her other hand. Jubilee simply gave him room.

The contraction ended and Kitty relaxed for a few seconds as Hank continued his instructions, "Push more slowly Kitty. You're almost done." Within seconds they all heard the high thin wail of the newborn's cry. "It's a girl," Hank said with a smile. Rahne pulled off her jacket and handed it to Hank to wrap the baby up in as Jubilee found a blanket to wrap Kitty up in. Peter hoisted her into his arms and they headed out.

Raven met them outside the cell and stared at them. "I freed the rest of the women. Many of them are pregnant," Hank nodded. They hurried out hearing more explosions all around them. They found SHIELD had arrived yet again to help clean up the mess.

Logan trotted over seeing them, he grinned seeing Kitty sleeping in Peter's arms, "They are alive." The base was mostly intact. Most of the soldiers were being rounded up. "I missed Creed," Logan muttered. "He left three days ago and wasn't expected back." He cracked his knuckles, loud popping noises sounded in the cold night.

Raven grinned at him as they boarded the plane, "You'll get another chance."

Hank waited until they got back to the mansion before he asked Jubilee and Kitty the awkward questions. "I had just gotten out of the base when the big explosions started," Kitty said. "Jubilee was there and we realized that we had ended up on the other side of the base from the rest of you. We were hit by a wave of something that knocked us off our feet. I remember two things before I passed out, I got the drive off and a voice saying that they had two new prizes."

**Six months earlier**

Kitty looked up, everything was blurry. She heard a growl, "Hmm, this one's pregnant. We'll take them both." Everything went black.

When they both awoke they were strapped to a medical table and they felt the inhibitor bands around their necks. "Ah, good, you're both awake." A man came into view. He wore a white lab coat and looked at them both. "Kitty Pryde and Jubilation Lee I presume?" his low chuckle sent cold chills up their spines. "Good, your mate, Miss Pryde, Mikhail Rasputin?" she shook her head, "Piotr Rasputin? I'm surprised from all the reports we've heard. Well, you and your daughter are doing just fine."

Kitty shook her head, "I'm not pregnant."

The man smiled again, "Oh, quite the contrary, Miss Pryde, or should I say Doctor Pryde? You're three months pregnant. Miss Lee on the other hand should be an excellent subject for our experiments." Kitty watched the other woman turn white as the man began his examination of her.

A few weeks later they had successfully inseminated Jubilee and Kitty's pregnancy was quite apparent. The doctor was quite ecstatic when he realized that the baby was Peter's, "You know what this means? No, I don't suppose you would. This child has the potential to be the most evolved being in the world!" Kitty's fears increased, unable to suppress them, she cried in Jubilee's arms that night. All she could do was watch her belly swell and watch them plan.

"Do you think they're looking for us?" Jubilee asked a few nights before their rescue.

"I hope so," Kitty murmured. "I'm really close, and I'm well aware that those 'examinations' you had were humiliating." Jubilee looked down at the ground, blushing furiously. Kitty's labor began early on the morning of the attack, and until the attack began had been closely monitored. They had been abandoned after they heard the explosions.

**Present**

"I'm not sure what they had planned for us, but I'm sure glad you showed up when you did," Kitty said, stroking the baby's head. Her blonde hair had caused some laughter among the mutants.

"There's no doubt she's yours, Pete," Logan laughed.

Peter still looked in wonder at the tiny being in his arms. His mother had gone to get his sister from school when they returned and was due back any time now. Kitty's parents had been informed of their daughter's return and were on their way to New York. Sebastian Shaw had simply stated that he would wait a few days before coming to meet the new family.

They heard a gasp as Alexandra and Ilyana entered the room. Kitty had fallen back asleep and Hank had taken Jubilee into another room to give her a full examination. Peter smiled at the two of them and beckoned them over, "So, that's what you were doing this morning," Alexandra murmured. She gave a start when she realized what Peter was holding. He handed over the infant with a smile. He seemed to be moving through a new world. "Have you decided on a name?"

Kitty roused enough to smile at the older woman, "Anastasia Julie, Julie was my paternal grandmother's name." Ilyana was very excited to meet her new niece. She was even more excited when they let her hold her. She very solemnly nodded her head when her mother told her to support the baby's head. Peter even gave up her seat to his little sister.

"Huh, so we were right, I'm glad to know," another voice intruded into the family moment. Lisa stood there looking like she had just come from a crime scene. She grinned, "Yeah, Logan grabbed me just as I got off work. He thought I should see that my gift could have happy endings." She walked over and touched the baby's head, "She's beautiful. Mom's furious, Peter. She went out and bought of presents before Logan and I could leave. She's absolutely convinced that you're not ready for the baby."

Peter chuckled, "She's right."

They turned as they heard someone clear their throat, "I'm sorry to intrude, but, Alexandra, could I have your assistance. I need to examine Jubilee and I think it best if there's another woman present."

"Was she raped?" Peter asked concerned.

"Not in the traditional sense of the word, Peter, she was artificially inseminated. The father of the baby never actually touched her. That doctor…" she shook her head. "I heard stories about him from the other ladies. We ate in a kind of cafeteria. They said he was an animal," she shuddered. "They also said he preferred boys." A shudder ran through the room as Ilyana drew the tiny baby closer.

Word quickly spread through the Talented and Gifted communities as well as the neighborhood around the school. Flowers, gifts, and guests soon inundated the school as they celebrated another member of their community. The moments went from laughter to tears. When Steve asked about the new move that he'd heard about, he received a detailed description of what now became known as the "Fastball Special".

"Let me get this straight, he tossed you _through_ the _Sentinel_?" he asked shaking his head.

Logan shook his head, "No, not really, he got me close enough to take its head off."

"I don't know," someone heard Tony Stark say; "I still think babies look like wrinkled old men." This earned him a slap upside the head from Susan Richards, Jean, Rogue, Natasha, and Kitty.

Natasha came over from Scotland to admire her new niece. She sighed with envy, "I want a little girl." Kitty hugged her. Mikhail wasn't responding well to therapy and there simply wasn't any way of telling how long it would take.

Grigorii and Trent showed up and announced that they were in charge of decorating the baby's room, and after seeing the rooms for the other two infants, said they'd be redecorating all the babies' rooms. They even made a promise to Natasha to redo the twins' room. Kitty spent the first momentous day downstairs in her robe and on the couch. She and Jubilee were glad to be home. Jubilee had spent the first night agonizing over whether to continue the pregnancy. It was still early enough to terminate it. Hank ran a profile on the DNA from the father. It turned out to be a young soldier who had died several years before and hadn't fathered any children before he died. That made her feel better about continuing the pregnancy. At least he would have something left in this world.

Late one night after everyone had settled into bed, Peter found Kitty on the balcony staring out at the stars. Anastasia slept quietly in her crib. He still couldn't believe how beautiful she was. He put his arm around Kitty's shoulder and she snuggled into his embrace. "It's good to have you home," he said, sighing happily.

"It's so good to be home. I was so scared what they'd do to her when she was born," she said, tears formed in her eyes.

"If I had known you were alive," he said guiltily. "We're going to have to do something really nice for Lisa. She was the one who followed the trail that lead to you and Jubilee."

Stars filled the night sky as the young family faced a whole new world.

A large man stalked the snowy night, his companion in a white lab coat shook his head in disgust, "How did they find us? They thought she was dead!"

"Heard a rumor of a mutant who can put together a crime scene, she apparently was able to discover something important that lead them here," the bigger man growled out.

"Hmmm," the smaller man said thoughtfully. "The smaller gifts that are possessed are often the most intriguing, take Doug Ramsay for example," the bigger man growled. They continued in silence, "I'm lucky that feral mutant left me alone."

"Logan," the bigger man bit out with a growl.

The other man laughed, "Your need for revenge, Creed, will be your undoing.

"Your plots, Dr. Adams, will make it interesting," he replied. The two headed for a military plane waiting for them at the edge of the base.

**I doubt this is the end. Again, if you'd like to play in this universe, go ahead. Just let me know so I can come watch!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

**Baby hijinks, I like it, so I'm doing it. Two infants and a newborn in the mansion, what else did you expect to happen? No, still don't own them.**

Peter slept soundly for the first time in months. Kitty slept in his arms and nothing was going to change that. Well, almost nothing, a baby's cry sounded into the quiet room. He felt Kitty push herself upright and walk gingerly over to the crib. He opened his eyes and smiled at the sight. She had just returned home yesterday, and the mansion was suddenly filled with people. She was with the one person who he willingly shared her with.

Peter watched as she fed their young daughter and sighed with contentment. "You're awake?" she asked quietly into the dark.

He sat up and pulled them both into his arms, "Of course I am." He reached out and stroked the baby's head, "I can't believe how beautiful she is." Kitty rested her head against his shoulder, it was the first time she felt safe in months. She wished she could turn back the clock and have saved him all the sorrow he had gone through. Logan would get Creed and Adams for this, she knew he would.

Kitty sighed, "I lost my gloves. I felt naked and vulnerable when I was there because I couldn't shield myself from other's emotions, and they didn't care. Fortunately, I was with Jubilee who had shields that Xavier helped her build." She shook her head, "I'd always taken the gloves for granted."

The next morning Peter left Kitty in the company of Steve Rogers and the rest of the Avengers as he attended a meeting with Xavier, Lisa, Scott, and other X-Men who were still on the roster. Ororo swore that something had to be in the drinking water as Brand had turned up pregnant in the last week leaving Hank stunned. Erik had come in with his son, Pietro, and the boy and Lisa had spent the last few days scurrying around what used to be the Soviet Union. Lisa's comment was that she spent most of that time hanging on for dear life.

"That's just it," Lisa sighed with frustration. "They've not left any trails that I can follow, well, except that one. That one doesn't make any sense. Russia doesn't have a treaty of that kind with the US, or Canada," she looked up as everyone except Pietro looked at her confused. "It lead into northern Alaska; took a left turn right after crossing the Bering Straight. It's almost as if they get to a certain point and someone teleports them away. I'd see a plane if that's what they were using."

"Or a transporter? I've had several reports of unauthorized transports at The Peak," Abigail commented as she entered the meeting. "All of them were site-to-site transports. All of them went to several locations in Alaska and British Colombia." She smiled grimly at Peter's raised eyebrow, "Don't worry, Peter. Hank made me promise that I'm not going any further than the Peak." She pulled up a holographic image from the emitter she set down on the table, "These are the locations of the beam up," she said using a laser pointer to indicate the points in the former Soviet Union. "To the beam down points," she said indicating the dots in northwestern North America.

"Pattern?" came the crisp response from Xavier.

"Haven't been able to find one. We're at the point of just putting it up on one of the walls here at the institute and seeing if anybody can find one," Logan replied. "Kitty suggested we offer extra credit to any student who did."

"Can we get her and Doug to work on some sort of GPS tracking device? Just in case we lose somebody again?" Scott asked.

Peter laughed, "They've been working on one since she returned."

"He's back?" Scott asked incredulously.

"He never left," Peter laughingly replied. When Peter finally got away from the meeting he found Kitty updating her fanfiction. More specifically, laughing over what was written about herself.

"I'm gone for six months, and they have you finding me and us making up in some rather interesting ways. I sometimes wished my life was half as interesting as they make it out to be. Then I went to Breakworld," Peter watched her sigh. He noticed that she hadn't worn gloves since her return. She stuck out her tongue, "Can't find them. Besides, I don't need them here and I don't think I'm going anywhere soon." A loud bang sounded from the direction of one of the nurseries and they both laughed as colorful language drifted downstairs fortunately spoken in Russian. Hisako winced as she rounded the corner with two cups of tea in her hands.

Peter thanked her as she handed both of them a cup, "Mr. Rasputin, are you going to teach Russian this year?"

Peter winked as Kitty muttered something about learning Russian through the forced reading of "War and Peace" in the original Cyrillic. Peter heard Stasia, as she'd become known, crying a few feet away. He walked over and picked her up, "So, who's Daddy's little girl? What's the matter," he discovered fairly quickly that she needed a new diaper. Hisako sighed enviously as he took off to his rooms to change the baby's diaper.

"I hope I find someone that wonderful," she said wistfully.

"I'm sure you will," Kitty said smiling. "Took me a couple of tries, but there he is. You know what the hardest part of my captivity was, aside from worrying about what was going to happen when Stasia arrived?" Hisako shook her head as Kitty took a sip of her tea. "Knowing that Peter didn't know about the baby. If I had known I was pregnant I would never have gone on that mission," she shook her head sadly. Hisako suddenly realized that she felt guilty about what happened.

"Hey!" "Wait a minute!" came cries of two women. Jean and Rogue were chasing two babies as they crawled through the foyer.

Kitty laughed, "When I left, they weren't even born." She reached down and scooped Katie up, "Hi sweetheart, I'm your Aunt Kitty." Laughter went round the room as the baby gave her a very strange look and then put her hand in Kitty's mouth.

Lockheed, who had spent the better part of six months wandering around Russia and the Ukraine looking for Kitty, had never given up. If she had truly been dead, he would've died too. He could get used to the ferret, she was a lot of fun and very inventive, but did someone have to bring the dog! It was a Chihuahua, the small dog was also the fattest Chihuahua he'd ever seen. It also had the most annoying yip Lockheed had ever heard. If he hadn't been somebody's pet he would've set fire to it long ago.

There had been one thing that made up for that annoying dog, Pete Wisdom had had the gall to show up with Meggan and Brian. He spent the better part of the afternoon chasing the man around the front lawn. He hadn't been satisfied until **that** man had been chased up a tree. He'd also set the man's pants on fire. Yes, a very satisfying afternoon after all. The baby was very small and very quiet. Except when she apparently needed something, then she was very noisy.

Kitty went downstairs to work on the tracking device with Doug while Peter took Stasia upstairs. Lockheed followed Peter. He looked down on Stasia in her crib and let out a big yawn. Maybe a nap wasn't such a bad idea, he thought as he curled up next to the sleeping infant. When Alexandra came in to the room Lockheed had one paw stretched over the little girl. She smiled at the two of them as Ilyana came in and started giggling. "They look so cute together," she said.

A week later Sebastian Shaw showed up Cassandra Nova with him. Kitty watched them warily as they studied the girl. "She has the X-Gene," Hank explained to the pair. "What, if any mutant power she will have will have to wait. I have no way of discerning if she inherited her mother's empathic powers."

Nova took the infant in her gloved hands, "Telepathic, and empathic powers are what I'm sensing. She'll be a strong one." She gave the waiting parents a tight smile, "She's beautiful, congratulations."

"Thank you," Kitty murmured gladly taking her daughter back into her arms. They murmured their farewells to Xavier as they left the mansion. "Well, that was mercifully short," Kitty said.

Jubilee moved through the mansion a little lost herself. She wasn't sure she wanted to keep the baby. Hank told her she still had several months to decide on what to do. There was no doubt in her mind that she'd been raped. "Raped through science," she muttered to herself.

"If it's any consolation you weren't the only one," she heard a voice growl out. She looked up to see Logan standing there. He sat next to her on the bench. Over the past few days since learning the identity of the father she'd imagined what he'd looked like. What he liked and did during his downtime. Hank had confirmed that the man was a mutant, but he couldn't tell her what the boy's power had been.

Xavier had been very careful in choosing the landscapers for his lawn and gardens. He made sure the gardens were filled with native plants so the native animals would feel at home. The flowers were long gone, but the squirrels and other fauna were taking advantage of the nuts dropped onto the ground by the trees. Three days ago Wolverine had chased a moose out of the gardens only to be confronted by a black bear. The bear thought bear of it and wandered back into the woods.

Jubilee's breath caught in her throat as a deer doe and her twin fauns wandered into the garden nearby. "I know some couples who can't have children who'd be willing to adopt," Logan said gently, putting his arm around her shoulders.

Tears streamed down her face, "You will catch him, right? You're not going to let someone like that run free?" She asked.

"I'll get him, and Sabertooth too," he whispered. Jubilee was an orphan who had come to the institute when she was thirteen. She, Kitty, Jean and Rogue had quickly become friends. She had been the youngest and Jean the oldest and they had been almost a gang. She had been on the Breakworld mission when Kitty didn't make it out of the bullet. Logan had held her for what seemed like hours as she mourned the loss of her friend, and was the first person to find Kitty asleep in the infirmary on her return.

Logan couldn't even begin to imagine what she was going through, but he was determined to make them pay for hurting his girls. Logan handed Jubilee over to Rogue as he went off to talk to Remy and Raven. "I can't see the pattern either, Logan," Raven admitted.

Doug entered, "I can. Each of these points represents a Gifted compound. There's not a Talent of Human in these compounds. While a normal Human would have been negligible problem, a talent would've picked up on the drop points. None of these Gifted have Talents too."

"Wow," Logan muttered, "Telepathic talents and talents who have finders specifically, I imagine." He straightened. "What about the Precogs? Have they tagged anything?"

"Not yet," Raven muttered. "What do we do now?"

"Drop a couple of Precogs in the middle of Alaska and see what happens?" Logan asked humorously.

Wade and Kael came along for the ride. They brought Perfection to see what would happen. Shaw laughed so hard he cried when they asked to borrow her. "What? Destiny was too busy?"

The trouble started halfway there when Perfection told them they were going the wrong direction. They should be going south, not north. They kept telling each other that Perfection was never wrong. Somehow they ended up in sunny Hawaii. They went traipsing through thick foliage over extinct volcanoes, and finally ended up in the mountains above a white sandy beach. They found the base. At the base of an extinct volcano, men and women patrolled the end of a cave complex that had never been seen.

"Wonder what Raven looks like in a bikini?" Wade asked Logan.

"I don't know," Logan said, "and I've known her a very long time." They looked out and wondered how much longer this would take.

**I'm terrible, I know. We'll manage!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

by Starsinger

**Julie was the name of my best friend up until high school. She moved to California and I stayed in Texas. I don't know what happened to her but I hope she is well and thinks of me occasionally. Still don't own them.**

Logan studied his subject very closely. She was short, chubby, and had a funny look on her face. "Oh, no, please don't," he begged, looking over his shoulder. "Your Mommy needs her sleep." It didn't help, she started crying. The smell immediately hit him as to what the problem was. He hurried over and managed to change the baby before her mother woke up. Kitty had just finished her Genetics doctoral thesis. She had changed it to the Bioethics of Human Genetic Manipulation and Eugenics. She had aimed it especially toward the Mutant population. Her own sojourn into this dark world had influenced her decision to change the thesis. Dr. Moira MacTaggart had pronounced the paper not only impressive but publishable.

So, Kitty, Peter, Alexandra, Logan, and Ororo had spent the better part of the night either babysitting or helping to get the paper together and off to its destination: Harvard University. Kitty and Peter's three month old daughter had proven remarkably uncooperative. Julie, as the baby was now called, woke up frequently during the night. Kitty told them she had colic which made her very fussy. Finally, Kitty fell asleep, Peter went to teach class, Alexandra took Ilyana to school, Ororo also had a class to teach, and that left Logan in charge of the baby. Logan did the natural thing when Julie fell asleep after being changed. He snuck out of the room with her.

Logan found Jubilee where he thought he would on the front porch. Everyone still worried about her. She was eight months pregnant, and fortunately not the only one who was that way in the mansion. When SWORD learned Brand was pregnant they put her on ground duty. Logan grinned when he heard the grumbling from the exasperating woman, but Hank didn't mind one bit. The two adults stared over the quiet lawn.

"What happens next, with Kitty's thesis I mean," Brand asked as she exited the mansion with a cup of coffee in her hand.

Logan smiled, "Well, if her professor's accept it, which they should. She'll be called back to Harvard to defend her thesis. I've seen her do this a couple of times before," he said with a wink. "If Hank catches you drinking that…"

Brand made a face at him, "It's herbal tea. Besides, he's become entirely too protective." Logan cocked an eyebrow at her, "All right, considering what happened to Kitty, I can understand it too, but we didn't know she was pregnant."

"And you speak Alien languages the human tongue can't form," Jubilee quipped.

"I'm half Alien!" she stated. "Oh, never mind," she muttered. Logan and Jubilee shared a grin. The arguments between Hank and Brand could be heard three floors up. The last one, that she actually won, regarded her actually making trips to the Peak. She had to promise to use a shuttle instead of the transporters. She got what she wanted when she declared her feelings for the furry blue doctor.

Professor Xavier soon joined them, he didn't normally wear gloves around the mansion, unless it was actually cold, or he was going somewhere. He had an appointment in Maryland to evaluate an emergent, Moira would join him as she could ascertain best whether she was a mutant or a talent. The reports that were given hinted that she could be both. If that was the case, she would return to Xavier's. The report was that the fourteen year old had "appeared out of nowhere" and said "her name was Rachael".

As it turned out her telekinesis was a talent, and her telepathy made her a mutant. So, back to Xavier's she came. The first hint that something was strange was she fell into Kitty's arms, she called her Kate and sobbed for almost an hour. As far as anyone knew, they had never met. She ran crying from a room where Scott and Jean were playing with their toddler, and she leaned comfortably against Peter's strong form like a small child seeking comfort from an adult.

It was Logan who finally got her to take a nap while the adults went downstairs to figure out what was going on with this obviously traumatized child. No one was quite prepared for Hank's verdict, "It's Rachael." He looked at the confused expressions on Scott and Jean's faces, "Your daughter, Rachael, as a much older version. I wonder if she's from another dimension. We've had a few cases like this before." He looked at Kitty, it was her adventures into another future that finally got Talented and Gifted rights Act passed by Congress. Her saving Senator Kelly's life set in motion a series of events that lead to them no longer having to hide in the shadows. Kitty was so popular that candidates were still trying to get her to go on the campaign trail with them. Julie's presence gave all the excuse she needed to stay out of politics this year.

"If she came back from the future I saw, she's gonna need a lot of help," Kitty murmured. Jean looked confused, "You were taking that sabbatical to the Shi'ar Empire, Jean. It was Halloween," Kitty shook her head as she recounted the story. "I remember a little of it. I still get chills when I think of giant robots. Those robots in Siberia, they looked like…" her voice trailed off in fear.

"What did they call them, Kitty?" Scott asked.

"Sentinels, they called them Sentinels." Logan found Kitty later cuddling her infant daughter. Julie slept quietly in her mother's arms. "I still get nightmares from that brief time in the future," she said quietly. "How'd she end up here?"

"Your counterpart, Kate, sent her back to continue to ensure that their future didn't happen," Logan stood at the window looking out. "Alexandra's taken charge of her. She and Ilyana have become fast friends."

"How much damage has been done?" Kitty asked.

"Moira's coming in tomorrow to evaluate. Hopefully she's young enough to respond to her therapy."

"I got word today from Harvard, I've two weeks to prepare to defend my thesis. My professors agree with Moira, and suggest I bring Julie with me."

The next two weeks saw Rachael coming out of her shell. Alexandra took her under her wing treating her like another child. Scott and Jean just didn't know how to deal with her, she was their child, but they didn't know her. She didn't relate to them as their child, apparently she had never really known them as parents. Kate and Peter Rasputin had been the closest things she had known before they branded her for the "hound" program. Kate managed to help her escape before it happened, just after her return to that disparate future.

Trent and Grigorii finished the nurseries before December. Rachael's room was decorated in soft blues and greens. Jean decided she wanted something soft and soothing for her young daughter. Hundred Acre Wood seemed to be the dominant theme for the room. Katie's room was pink. Trent, Grigorii, and Remy had quashed Rogue's darker colors for their daughter. Remy didn't want to give the baby nightmares, and Trent and Grigorii always believed that baby's rooms should be bright and cheerful. So she ended up being a princess, and that was exactly how Remy treated her. For Julie the room was decorated in browns greens and whites. Reminiscent of Peter's native Siberia, Whooper Swans winged their way over her head as a mosaic of Mother Russia dominated one wall.

Not surprising anyone Kitty graduated at the end of the fall term with her Doctorate in Genetics. Peter, Julie, Alexandra, Logan, Ororo, Moira, and Theresa were in the crowd cheering her on. Early on Christmas Day Jubilee went into labor. Kitty and Hank provided much of her support as the labor lasted twelve hours. When it was determined that the baby was too big Hank performed a C-Section. The baby boy came out wailing which was always a good sign.

Kitty wearily dropped into bed beside Peter who was feeding their daughter. It seemed that as much food ended up on the bib as in the baby's mouth. Julie smiled and waved excited arms at her mother who couldn't help but smile. "Meggan and Brian are coming for the baby tomorrow," she said closing her eyes.

"That had to have been a tough decision," Peter said. He reached over and wiped Julie's mouth with a cloth.

"It's probably the wisest, they'll love the baby in a way that Jubilee won't be able to," Kitty sighed. "I'm tired, and I have to be up early in the morning to be there for Jubes." Peter moved around the room, changing Julie's clothes and putting her to bed. He sat at the end of the bed and pulled Kitty's shoes off to rub her feet. "You'll make a wonderful husband," she said with a laugh.

"I'm looking forward to it," he whispered leaning forward to kiss her.

She smiled into the kiss, "Can we get your mother to babysit tonight?" Alexandra happily agreed. Rachael stared at Julie, as if she should know who she was but didn't. The child was odd by anyone's standards. She had accepted the thick gloves without comment and went through the exercises that Xavier had designed to strengthen her abilities quietly. The day that she started talking was when Kitty sat down next to her and showed her her own gloves. A horrifying story of robots attacking the mansion and burning it to the ground emerged when she was a young child. Jean and Scott had been killed along with many others. The closest thing she'd had to parents were Kate and Peter Rasputin. They had been torn away from her when they fought to prevent their future from happening by sending Kate back to Kitty's body.

Kitty disseminated this information to the adults allowing them to connect to Rachael in many different ways. Jean and Scott were determined to make that future never happen. Alexandra continued to be the mother figure and protector. Hank simply removed the tattoo. No one forced her to wear the gloves around the mansion. She understood she had to wear them outside the mansion, but inside it didn't matter.

Lockheed ended up being the last piece of the puzzle. He brought a very young dragon with him one morning. The new hatchling latched onto Rachael and loved her instantly and unconditionally. Overwhelmed and unable to deal with the emotions that the new attachment provided, Rachael just sat their and watched the young blue dragon closely. She was soon guided in her interactions with her new friend by both Kitty and Lockheed. She named her Athena and the new dragon helped her out of her shell even more. Logan made the sly comment that maybe Kitty and Peter were just meant to be.

Brian and Meggan came to meet their new son, whom they named James at Jubilee's request. They intended to let her be as much a part of his life as she could. Brand on the other hand, with her slightly alien physiology, took a bit longer than nine months to come to term. The baby girl somehow was normal even by human standards. Although, no one was willing to guess what she inherited from either parent. They named the baby Danielle McCoy, Brand thought it easier than the name she had inherited from her father that only she could pronounce.

It was a bright and beautiful day in May when the nuptials of Peter and Kitty were set. A day of happiness and joy people would talk about for years to come.

**Yeah, I think I'll save that one for the next chapter. I hate transition chapters, they're a pain in the bud. Please R&R!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

by Starsinger

**Double wedding, one of the brides insisted, okay, demanded. The other couple laughingly agreed, well, you'll see. Grigorii works his matchmaking magic, and somebody has his eye on Lisa, unfortunately. He's good! Still don't own most of them.**

"Let me get this straight," Grigorii asked Jean while completing her make-up. Trent was working on Kitty's. "You brow-beat Scott into marrying you?!"

It was all Kitty could do to keep from laughing. The dress was something straight out of the twentieth-century fairy tales. The white bodice hugged the curves the baby had given her to the waist with an A-Line skirt flaring down the petticoats into a full hem. The open sleeves billowed down with part of both sleeves reaching to her knees and arcing up to mid forearm. Fitted sleeves reached from the shoulder to her wrists. Both she and Jean had forgone a train in favor of ease of dancing. A plain veil was held in place with red roses and baby's breath. Jean wore a simple white sheath dress. She had forgone a veil in favor of a wrap around her head and had long gloves that extended to her elbows and unbuttoned conveniently at her left wrist. Kitty had found a pair of wrist length white gloves that she could easily slip off and on.

"Well, Rachael's presence helped. I threatened to move in with Logan with Rachael if he didn't agree to a wedding."

"Isn't Logan seeing Ororo?" Theresa asked. She looked fabulous in a blue mother-of-the-bride dress. Ilyana looked cute in her flower girl dress and one of Wade's sons served as ring bearer. Both Jean and Kitty's fathers were present. Ororo served as Jean's Maid-of-Honor in a deep red dress designed to make Logan drool, Ororo testified that it was doing its job admirably. Lisa served as Kitty's Maid-of-Honor in a soft brown that showed off her skin. Someone had talked Lockheed into wearing a bow tie.

"He didn't know that," Kitty said with a laugh. "Logan even played along flirting with Jean. Ororo pretended to storm off in a huff to keep Scott from seeing her laughing. I think she had turned an interesting shade of purple by the time the scene was over." Ororo looked everywhere but at Jean.

Grigorii and Trent finished the ladies' make-up as both Rachael and Julie awoke. Their Grandmothers' scooped them up before they could make a fuss and took them off to get dressed in their own little outfits.

Across the school another set of people nervously awaited the wedding. "Stop pacing," Alexandra told her son. She looked fabulous in a lavender Mother-of-the-Groom dress. His best man, Logan, sat serenely in a chair. For once he wasn't drinking a beer. Scott was in not better shape than Peter, though his best man, his brother Alex, was in about the same state. He had met Jubilee just that morning and it looked like someone had pole-axed him.

Soon, they heard a knock at the door and Kurt stuck his head in, "It's time."

Peter smiled as he straightened his tie. His mother patted him on the arm and firmly pulled Scott from the room. He looked ready to bolt. Logan laughed as Alexandra latched firmly onto Scott's arm, "No wonder you're here."

Alexandra winked as Scott, not Peter, escorted her to her seat. He had no choice as Peter was looming behind him. He sighed as he took his place beside Peter; Alex stood slightly behind him as Logan stood behind Peter. The Rabbi, and the Justice of the Peace, smiled at all of them. Peter felt his breath catch in his throat as first Ilyana and Wade's son, Kyle, then Lisa and Ororo walked down the aisle toward them. They looked stunning in their dresses that, for once, didn't look like bridesmaid dresses. Well, they didn't have the big bow on the butt anyway. Kitty first turned down the aisle escorted by her father. At least he hoped it was Kitty, the veil made it difficult to tell. Jean turned down the aisle soon after confirming Peter's first guess.

The ceremony went by in a blur. Peter remembered that Kitty was beautiful. Scott wondered why he had to be hen-pecked into it. The roses Jean and Kitty carried appeared to work their magic on the young man. As both couples turned back down the aisle Peter noticed the Sanchez's sitting next to his mother. He smiled at the couple who had taken him in on their daughter's word. When Logan stood to give his toast, he gave a big smile, "You two, who'd have thunk it?" Grateful laughter went through the crowd. "You two fit each other better than just about anybody I've ever seen. You never gave up, even in the depths of despair, you never gave up on each other, and now, you have a beautiful little girl. We are so happy for you. We eagerly look forward to see what comes next." He raised his glass in salute as everyone else joined him.

Alex stood, taking the microphone from Logan, "Okay, I'm not sure I can top that." He said, scratching his head. He looked at his brother, "You've found someone really great, Scott, never forget that. Jean, good luck, I really think you're going to need it." He raised his glass to them and everyone else joined him. Scott and Jean went first with the cake cutting as Julie suddenly decided she was hungry and Kitty left to feed her. Peter Parker caught the moment when the couple creamed each other with their pieces of cake. Minutes later Kitty and Peter repeated Jean and Scott's performance with the cake. Jean and Kitty led their father's out onto the floor to Josh Grobin's "You Raise Me Up." Peter came up with his mother as Scott joined them with Jean's mother. They eventually changed partners as the song came to an end.

The party cranked up from there. Everyone got onto the dance floor and by the time it was time for the bouquet's and garter tosses, most of the adults had a nice buzz. Jubilee caught Kitty's bouquet while Ororo caught Jean's. Hank caught the garter Peter tossed, while Logan caught the one Scott threw. As they were leaving Logan pressed keys into both Peter and Scott's hands with a chuckle, Kurt and Xavier soon learned what that was about. "You put them in chastity belts?" Kurt asked with a chuckle. "It's a little late for that, isn't it?"

Ororo joined in the conversation, "Logan is well known for his gag gifts." She looked over and saw Mrs. Sanchez looking worried as she appeared to be looking for someone. "What's wrong?" Storm asked.

"I can't find Lisa. Have you seen her?" A quick physical and psychic search of the grounds revealed that she had disappeared. No one had seen her since the dance.

Logan started to mutter, "I don't like this." He and Rahne started to use their noses to follow their own trails. Brand got an urgent beep at the same time they reached the edge of the party space. "I found two strange scents with hers over there." Logan reported.

"The Peak reported a transport happened from this location less than an hour ago," Brand said hurrying up to them. Silence descended on them. This wasn't good. "Anybody else missing?" Brand thought to ask. A quick search revealed no one else had gone missing.

"What's wrong," Lisa's mother asked frantically. "Why can't you find her?" No one had an answer for her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They met downstairs in Xavier's conference room. "What would they want with her?" Logan asked. "Her power is small, most people wouldn't even know she's a mutant if they didn't know what she did."

"You just don't want to be the one to tell her supervisor, Logan," Rahne said without humor.

Wade came in, "I can't find her. I don't know how they've hidden her from that, but…" he shrugged helplessly.

"Kurt, find the Sanchez's semi-permanent quarters here near Alexandra. This has clearly gone too far."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lisa awoke, her cell was small but clean. It almost looked like a hospital room. Someone had removed her dress and replaced it with scrubs. She sat slowly upright. She remembered being on the outer edges of the crowd for the bouquet tosses, then two men were standing next to her that she didn't recognize and then nothing. Everything else was a blank.

The hospital bed on which she was sitting was a standard bed and just as sterile as everything else in the room. Her head throbbed as if she had drunk too much the night before. She didn't know where she was or why she was here. For the first time in her life she was really and truly frightened.

**All right, it's shorter than normal, but what can I say, this should be interesting. R&R, and give suggestions, please.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

by Starsinger

**Lisa is lost, and everybody who's a good guy is pissed. No one messes with their friends. No, still don't own them.**

"You haven't told the newlyweds, right?" Hank asked Logan.

Logan sighed, "No, Kitty will want to come right back, and Peter… How did they grab her with so many people there!"

"Because nobody would think they would," came the reply. Hank was tired, Danny had been keeping both him and Brand up late at night. "Peter would be tearing everything apart, she's like his sister. What could they possibly want with her?"

Erik rounded the corner, "I think I've got an idea." Again they met in Xavier's office. "All right, hundreds of mutants around the world have mutations so minor they may not know that they're mutants. Lisa and Doug are really good examples. These mutations, while useless in fighting other mutants, are useful in any number of ways. Lisa told me the first time she saw something she walked into an old burned out building. All the other kids saw a burned out shell, she saw someone sneaking into the building late at night killing someone and setting fire to it."

Doug spoke up, "I was in Japan with my family. I'd never heard Japanese outside of Anime, but I understood everyone perfectly. It didn't matter the dialect spoken. I thought it was a fluke until two weeks later when I found myself translating for someone who was speaking Mandarin Chinese into German."

Xavier spoke up, "These mutations tend to be diverse and unique. No two are the same. Unlike the big flashy mutations where we see a lot of repeats although not in the same ways." Xavier shook his head, "I just don't see a pattern anywhere."

"I do," Ororo said quietly. "All of the kidnappings are those with small mutations, or protective mutations. Kitty's phasing, Jubilee's lights…"

"Lisa's tracer," Erik finished. "Doug, you're confined to grounds until further notice." He raised a finger as the man protested, "I realize most of the victims are female, but we've had reports of men being taken too."

Peter went home with Kitty for their honeymoon. They spent the two weeks at Peter's old home in the compound. The girls of the village were furious. Not only was Peter not gay, but he was now married and his daughter was beautiful. They felt they had been cheated. Grigorii shrugged, "They told my parents I'd be straight. I think they got our tests mixed up, Peter." Peter gave his friend an affectionate push back to the village square.

Peter loved showing off his baby girl. Kitty smiled tolerantly as all the old women cooed and fussed over all of them. Julie already used to being the center of attention, or toward the center anyway, batted her big blue eyes at them in a way that reminded them of Ilyana.

Their honeymoon was an idyllic time even when they made a pilgrimage to the farmstead that once belonged to Peter's family. There, they made a surprising find.

Alexandra had finally become accustomed to sleeping alone. It wasn't easy. She and Nicholas had had a long and happy marriage. It had been over a year since the attack that had left many dead and injured, and left her a widow. She could imagine that Julie was working her magic on the old biddies back at the village even now. She shook her head, even now she had more important things to consider. Two weeks after the wedding Lisa still had not been found, and she wasn't looking forward to telling Peter and Kitty. Scott and Jean had just returned and joined in the search. The students were frightened to think they weren't safe, even within the confines of the school grounds. How did such a wonderful event turn so dark?

Alexandra took a deep breath. The kids were due back today, and they had requested that Logan and Ororo pick them up from the airport. All they said was that Nicholas' brother, Vladimir, was coming for a visit and had a surprise for everyone. Alexandra returned inside to look for Amelia Sanchez, Lisa's mother. She turned as she heard the car pull up front. She turned to greet her son and family when a familiar figure stepped out of the car, one she had never thought to see again. She heard her name called as she collapsed into a dead faint.

Alexandra awoke in the infirmary to find Kitty, Peter, Vladimir, Ilyana and Hank looking down at her. Vladimir's daughter, Larissa, hovered anxiously behind Peter and Ilyana stood beside her. She shook her head, "I thought I saw…"

"You did," another voice joined in.

Another figure stepped into her view, she hadn't been dreaming, "Nicholas!"

"I'm so sorry to have worried you darling," he whispered. "When I saw there was nothing I could do to stop the attack I went for help. I was attacked and forgot everything. I wandered into a village where they took pity on me and cared for me. You know my penchant for organization, they decided they liked that and put me to work."

Larissa piped in, "Papa and I went into the village two months ago and I saw Uncle Nicholas."

"At which point she kept bugging me that he was there," Vladimir spoke up. Vladimir was a physically imposing man with muscles bulging from years of farm work. He had bequeathed his dark hair and blue eyes to his daughter who was almost elfin in appearance. She herself was a beautiful child and a year older than Ilyana. The two cousins had become fast friends. "I kept insisting that Nicholas was gone until she physically dragged me to him. He, of course, didn't recognize me, but I was very persistent. It took a couple of months to get him to regain his memory."

Alexandra's mouth moved, but no words came out. Peter sat next to her. Kitty spoke up, "Vladimir has found one of the bases for Omega Red. We think they be holding…" her voice choked up as she thought of her friend being held by those fiends. "He wants us to keep Larissa here while he sees what he can find out."

"Of course," Alexandra replied, reaching out a hand to the little girl. "Natasha called while you were gone," she said. "Mikhail wants in on this."

"Is he stable?" Vladimir asked.

"Logan will fly you out to Scotland before heading for Siberia. I know, it's the long way around, but you can talk to him and Dr. MacTaggart. Mikhail wants revenge," Kitty said. "And I want my friend back." Peter put his arm around her. This had made them all very aware of just how vulnerable any mutant was. They'd started testing people for even the most minor of abilities. Things they might have dismissed as a sixth sense, or intuition. Grigorii indeed had a minor mutation for putting people together. He now was making a mint as a match maker. Trent was, well, Trent.

Logan left with Vladimir, Larissa stayed at the school, and Nicholas sat down to admire his granddaughter. Julie, for her part, was reaching out and grabbing everything, and Nicholas' beard proved no exception. He winced as she tugged, "She's got a firm grip."

"Wait until you meet the twins," Alexandra said with a still shaky laugh. "Nicholas and Mikhail are your typical farm boys in that regard. Nicholas smiled, Logan had promised to pick Natasha and her twenty-two month old twins on the way back for a visit. For now he was happy to visit with the young lady sitting on his lap and pulling his hair.

Alexandra laughed as Nicholas winced again, repeating his words, "She's got a firm grip." The baby giggled. Rachael, who had recently discovered walking, ran through the infirmary Mommy's keys in her tiny hands. Jean came in hot on her heels. Kitty absently reached down and scooped her up pulling the keys from Rachael's hands and tossing them to Jean. Jean reached for her daughter with a quick thank you and hurried out the door. Alexandra slowly sat up as Peter hurried to her side to help her up. Nicholas stood shifting the baby to one side and holding his arm out to his wife. She escorted him to their quarters.

Kitty retrieved Julie and invited Ilyana, Rachael, and Larissa to a sleepover. They would have to found a room nearby anyway. Nicholas protested, until Alexandra pulled him into the room, Peter's parting shot before the door closed was, "I think Mom wants to get reacquainted, Dad!"

Moments after they reached their rooms Kitty heard the change in the thrum of the machinery that ran the school. She groaned as she headed for the bathroom to shower before heading for a late night downstairs in the bowels of the mansion. Peter popped in "Mary Poppins" before putting Julie to bed and lying down on the couch to enjoy the movie. He couldn't help but wonder what happened to the woman he considered to be a sister.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The images wouldn't go away. Men and women had been tortured in here. Her talent allowed her to see everything that had happened in excruciating detail. The only relief being she couldn't see the faces. That and if she closed her eyes the images went away. She thanked whatever deity who was listening that she couldn't hear what had happened as well. Finally, the door opened. A man in a white lab coat entered. "Ms Sanchez? I'm sorry it took me so long to get to you. You're truly a special case. I've often said the minor talents are the most interesting. Have you been comfortable?"

"You're the first person that's talked to me since I was brought here. What do you want with me? Are you going to impregnate me too?" she snarled.

"Madam, I assure you, you're talents are too minor to worry about your children. I'm Dr. Adams by the way. You've heard of me? Dr. Pryde mentioned me?" his smile chilled her to the bone. "You're keeping your eyes closed," he noticed. "Not liking what happened in here before?" Her head jerked up and her eyes opened. His presence made no difference to the images that she kept seeing. "I'll have you moved to another room that's not been occupied. You're not good to me insane."

"Do you consider yourself sane?" she asked, closing her eyes again.

"Sanity is relative, Ms Sanchez. Your friends won't find you, you're not anywhere they'd look." He walked out the door, "I suggest you make yourself comfortable when you're moved, you'll be here a long time." Lisa covered her head with her arms and wept.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The last thing Kitty had given Logan before he left for Scotland with Vladimir was a flash drive. It would quickly download any information from any base they encountered. She had also given another to Wade for his trip that went from Alaska to Hawaii. Perfection had disappeared for two weeks and returned to Shaw happier than Shaw had seen her in years. Someone even heard him mutter something about sending her there once a year, at least.

Raven arrived from Hawaii after their return from their honeymoon with the flash drive in hand. No one asked where she'd been, they knew better. Kitty plugged the drive into the main computers, but found herself unable to read the language on the drive. After consulting with Doug it was determined that the language wasn't even human, so, in a last ditch effort, she forwarded it to the main library on the Shi'ar Empire's homeworld and to SWORD. Brand admitted the language looked vaguely familiar but couldn't place where.

Logan and Vladimir disappeared in Siberia. No one knew where they were, but Larissa woke up in the middle of the night screaming her father's name…

**Gotta work out what's coming next. Whoops! I shouldn't have admitted that! Please R&R, any ideas are welcome.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

by Starsinger

**While sex is implied, no explicit content is actually here. Before you ask how I know so much about D&S couples, I lived with one for six months. Let's just say that was quite an education. I have now found the perfect person who is normally a hero but now is a bad guy. Who is it? Well, you'll see. It was the crappy portrayal of most of the heroes in (including this one) in Uncanny X-Men #500, oh, and his great portrayal as a good guy in Author376's stories. I intend to make him the antithesis of that here. So, this one's all about bad guys! Go figure. No, still don't own them.**

"I still don't understand why you thought she is so important," an ominous voice sounded over the darkened screen.

Dr. Addams watched the screen carefully, he still wasn't sure who his employer was, it didn't matter, "She was the reason they found the last base."

"So, you think kidnapping her will keep this from happening?" A light laugh sounded from the other end. "Go ahead, perform your little experiments. Just don't forget the aim of these little experiments," the line was cut as the conversation came to an end.

"Do you really think that'll help?" a smooth voice sounded behind him. The clicking of high heels sounded as a woman approached.

"Dani, you really need to have more faith," came the reply as he turned to face his companion. The Native American woman smiled. Her blue suit and heels covered fishnet stockings. Her long black hair was bound at the nape of her neck. She leaned against the desk in front of him and shivered as he reached out a hand feeling it travel up to the hem of her skirt. "If he thinks this woman is important," he shrugged as his phone went off again. "It's Xavier," he said rising to pull on a lab coat. Dani moved behind him. "Charles," he said with a smile.

The bald man on the other end of the line replied, "Hello, my friend, how is the pharmaceutical industry?"

The man smiled at the man on the other end of the line, "Profitable, we're investigating a drug aimed at mutants for regulating cholesterol. How's your search going for your missing friend?"

"Nowhere," came the frustrated reply. "It's almost as if she dropped off the face of the Earth.

"What can I do to help?" he replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The conversation ended as they always did; with affectionate farewells and wishes of continued health. He only half listened to the words anymore. He turned his attentions back to the brunette behind him. His hand travelled back up to the hem of her skirt. "Hmm, you're not resisting today," he murmured. She gritted her teeth and smiled as she felt him lift her skirt up. He shifted her around so that she was leaning against the desk, "You've shaved, good girl." She felt his tongue brush against the center of her being and her mind went elsewhere.

He always let her go with a slap on the rear. It was always humiliating, but he was always careful. It was the nature of her contract, she knew that when she signed it. They both did. Someday, she thought, I'll be free. She travelled downstairs and showered. It was unprofessional to smell like you just had sex, even if you did. The shower served to wake her up. The trouble with entering into a Dominant/Submissive contract with a powerful man was that she was one of several submissives under his control. Rumor had it that he'd even tried to pull Emma Frost and Dr. Kitty Pryde into his circle. They had refused. Dani smiled, Kitty was now a powerful woman, if the Boss could talk her into, no, she had too many scruples.

When Dani exited the shower one of the servants had laid out her outfit. Sky blue lacy bra, matching thong and fishnet stockings, three inch heels completed the under pinnings. The dress was a winter affair of the same color. The outfit clung to her body and hid nothing. A fur coat and matching gloves lay next to the dress and white pins for her hair lay on her dresser. She dressed and plaited her hair circling it around her head and securing it with pins. She pulled out a blue ribbon from her top drawer and placed it around her throat. A gold "D W" hung from it. Finally, Dani opened the envelope that lay on the nightstand, "Go to Tavern on the Green, there you will meet several people who have inquired about you." –W

Dani's pulse quickened. This could only mean one thing, she was nearing the end of her training. This meant that powerful people were given the opportunity to bid on her services as either a mistress or a wife. She pondered the thought, mistress would mean more money, but wife would mean power and not having to deal with the wife. She left her apartment and went downstairs to catch a cab to the restaurant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you think?" the mysterious man asked into the room.

His companion looked up and growled, "You have too many toys."

"Victor, you've enjoyed your share of my toys. Besides, you profit from this as well as I."

"Well, Boss, that's what you pay me for. Interesting that each toy you paired me with actually enjoyed themselves," Victor Creed laughed.

"This lifestyle requires some rough treatment," came the reply. "Dr. Addams says that this CSI, Lisa is her name, should be ready in a few weeks. I look forward to training her. I know a half dozen men who would pay top price for her powers. I never thought that something that minor, well, never mind. Follow Dani, make sure she and Amara don't get into trouble." Sabertooth left with a grin. The other man smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Dani arrived she saw Amara sitting at a nearby table. She was dressed in a similar fashion only in red and white and an "A W" dangled from the red ribbon around her throat. The Maitre de showed her to a table at the center of the room. She smiled as she ordered coffee, and ordered the food written in her instructions and waited. She didn't have to wait long Sebastian Shaw came through the door. He wasn't really looking for a companion, but liked to help put the girls at ease by acting as an escort. He also tended to discourage anyone who wasn't serious. He sat at Amara's table and watched the proceedings. It is said that the women are the ones who truly make matches, and this was no exception. Mothers, sisters, and even a few of wives entered to talk to the girls. Amara and Dani came away with five contracts for mistresses and seven marriage contracts.

Shaw went through the contracts and returned all of them to the girls before smiling and leaving. They left the ever-present Victor Creed behind them. "Supposed to be new ones in tomorrow, even a couple of volunteers," Amara whispered.

Dani smiled, "I wonder if we'll be able to help." Amara laughed. It was time for some shopping. When they returned Dani had instructions to go to his apartment. She stripped down to her underwear and replaced the blue ribbon with a leather collar, and attached a leash to it. Her heels continued to click as she reached the door, knocking before she opened it she crawled into the room making sure her eyes were fixed on the floor. She reached his chair and kissed his boots before crawling away.

"I thought you were ready," he said thoughtfully. "Stand." She gracefully rose to her feet and clasped her hands behind her neck. "You and Amara will be getting your own toys in a couple of days," he watched with amusement as a grin spread over her face. He walked over and took the leash, leading Dani around to his bed. "Do you prefer voluntary or involuntary? We have two that will have to be broken."

Dani shivered as his hands ran over her bare skin, "Involuntary, I need the practice." She saw him smile even though her eyes were downcast. He sent her away telling her to find her own fun. She passed Amara on the way and they agreed to meet in her room later. She passed Victor Creed at the elevator. She smiled an invitation as he looked behind her.

Victor entered the Boss' apartments and discovered he had one of the maids bent over the couch. He politely turned his back and discovered what the man had been watching. Someone had taped Kitty's fight with Captain America in Siberia and he was replaying the last momentous kick over and over. "Good fighter," Sabertooth said, admiring the smooth motions that landed her opponent in the dirt.

Victor heard grunting as the pair finished, "Good? She's magnificent! How that Siberian giant got her I'll never know."

"Some people prefer the old fashioned way," Victor laughed watching the maid hurry out. "You know, two people meet, fall in love, have sex, have a kid, get married, you know the usual. She's coming in today, isn't she?"

"Tomorrow, one of her students took up my contract and she's bringing him here," he finished washing his hands. "I would have had her if hadn't been for Lisa Sanchez. Everyone thought she was dead."

"Isn't she one of your new toys?" A smile answered the question.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dani awoke the next morning between two sleeping bodies. She reached over and kissed Amara's bare shoulder before sitting up and climbing out of bed. Playfully she reached over and slapped Creed on his bare bottom. She danced out of his way as he sleepily reached for her and settled on the other body in the bed. She showered and changed into another suit. She had work to do today.

Dani worked at this company in Human Resources. Today she was in the process of contacting Paleontologists for a dig in Mongolia. While the Chinese government was usually quite cooperative when it came to digs, not many people spoke the language well enough to want a four month contract there. Fortunately, it was a fairly stable area of the world, China's tendency for earthquakes not withstanding. Several had come forward and they were due in today.

The interviews were finished and she walked back up to His office only to find the two involuntaries kneeling in his office. Both were women and one had her eyes tightly shut. He was on the phone giving instructions to the Mistress of the House, "Yes, I want that room that's not been used before ready. I'm not driving one of my newest friends mad. Let me know when it's ready, Madam." He hung up as she entered, "Dr. Addams was afraid that her friends were getting close, so he shipped them both back here today. He watched the figures on the floor as Dani leaned against his desk. "Kitty is due here within the hour, move them down to holding with the others."

"Last thing we need is Kitty seeing her friend here," Dani murmured. "You still want me to try and get Dr. Pryde on this expedition?"

He glanced up, "I doubt she will, not with a small child at home, but give it a shot. Go ahead and blindfold her," he said, gesturing to the one with her eyes closed. "It'll be kinder for her anyway." Dani nodded as she did just that. She took hold of the leashes connected to the collars around their necks and told them to stand. She guided them carefully downstairs to holding and was careful that they didn't bruise themselves. He would punish her if she let that happen.

Dani ran into Kitty on her way back up to His office with the contract in hand. The mutant in question was named Jamie Madrox and had the extraordinary ability to make multiple copies of himself. It was a standard contract that set up the relationship between himself and all those around him. This also included a business apprenticeship that gave him valuable job training while he wasn't he wasn't learning other skills. Many came to these arrangements because they wanted discipline and they didn't want to go into the Army.

Dani entered His office to find Dr. Pryde, a young man she didn't recognize, Jamie Madrox she presumed, and Madam Marie Boujold, the Mistress of the House and in charge of all Submissives. She was a tall, gray haired lady who ruled the sub dorms with an iron fist. She made sure they ate, slept, bathed, dressed appropriately, and got to their destinations on time while they lived in the dormitories where most started. She was also the one who made sure the contracts were scrupulously adhered to.

He smiled as Dani entered his office, "Here's the contract now. Go ahead and read it over, it's the same as the one we sent you two months ago." Jamie's apprenticeship would be in Hospital Administration and he would start his own schedule at a local hospital in a few weeks time as well as the schooling that was required. Kitty and Jamie both nodded as they read through the contract. They all watched as Jamie took a deep breath before picking up the pen and signing it. Kitty and Madam signed it as witnesses and Dani notarized it. "Good, everything's in order. Madam, take him down to the dorms and start getting him acquainted with his new responsibilities." She nodded and they left.

Kitty rose, "I don't agree with this lifestyle, but he chose it." She sighed looking at both of them, "Xavier misses you."

He rose, "I know, but we both thought that this should be handled in different ways." Dani watched as Kitty put her gloved hands around her arms and shivered. "Look, the best way to breed more mutants is to have two mutants get together and do just that."

"Look, just because I see your point doesn't mean I agree with you!" Kitty said. "My temper is always unpredictable," she said with irony. She turned back to him, "Don't be a stranger, we all like to see you every once in a while." She nodded to Dani as she headed out, "Even the great Warren Worthington III needs friends."

**Thank you to Author376 for all the help you gave! Comments? Suggestions? Complaints? I'll listen.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

**Just a reminder: this is my own little universe that anyone is welcome to join in and play with as well. No one has died of the Legacy Virus, been depowered by M-Day, Apocalypse, or someone with a funny little gun that hits people with Mohawks. As for bad guys, this is my philosophy, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Money is not the source of all evil, Greed is. There was Greed long before there was money: Greed for lands, women, men, resources, food, and I could go on and on. What Warren's greedy for is control over the next generation of mutants. No, still don't own them mutants or poem hence. Oh, you'll see.**

"I can't fly," Kitty said, stating the obvious. "I can air walk."

Dani cocked a perfectly manicured eyebrow in her direction, "I'm well aware of that, yet, you wear gloves."

"I'm an empath, not a kinetic," Kitty placed her arms on the table between them, her gloved hands clasped. "Just what are you getting at, Dani? I'm not going on this dig, I have a baby at home."

Dani tried to suppress the surge of jealousy, she wanted a daughter of her own, "I'm getting married. Great Britain's Black Bishop's mother put forward the best contract."

"You're moving?"

"Not for a few months, details have to be hammered out, and I'm being given my own sub for a little while."

Kitty sighed as her phone rang, "Alexandra, yeah, I'm having lunch. All right, I'm heading home in an hour, kiss Julie for me." Kitty's smile was indulgent, "Xavier is beginning to wonder if he's running a school or a day care. He sent a bunch of us to Siberia a couple of years back and now we have toddlers running all over the mansion." Kitty deliberately pulled the right glove off her hand, "Power isn't all it's cracked up to be." The opal gleamed in the early morning sunlight, "Be careful what you do." She set money on the table before replacing the glove and striding off to the limo the Hellfire Club always seemed to provide its members in New York, whether or not they actually wanted one. "LaGuardia Airport please," she told the driver. She wanted to get home to her husband and daughter.

The gloves allowed her an anonymity that the ring wouldn't have, she knew. Kitty's flight was short, but boring, advantages of living in Upstate New York. When she arrived Raven was waiting for her. Kitty talked briefly about the trip before an awkward silence fell between them. She could tell that Raven was working her way around to telling her something. "Okay, there's just no way around this. Sage touched Ilyana and sped her mutant powers by a few years."

"What?!" Kitty sputtered. Sage has powers that are a little weird, by anybody's standards. She can read people's DNA and determine whether they are a mutant and what there powers are likely to be. She did this with Ilyana right before Kitty disappeared in an effort to discover what Omega Red would want with the Rasputin family and determined she would be a teleporter. Ilyana just turned nine and her powers shouldn't be showing up for another four years. One of the other things Sage can do is speed up the presentation of these powers, especially if the mutant is a latent.

"She tested Julie, Katie, and Rachael yesterday morning," Raven continued. "Ilyana accidentally brushed up against her and things started to go haywire. We just found Ilyana this morning in Antigua. She was enjoying the sun in spite of the bad sunburn she received. We found Sage in Siberia." Kitty burst out laughing, "She was a little grumpy."

"I can imagine," she left the question hanging.

"Julie's going to be a teleporter. Katie will have power over fire, not surprising really. Rachael, well, we all ready know what her powers will be," Raven became quiet. The older version of Scott and Rachael's daughter spoke volumes. Xavier said that this way he'd have a gauge on just how powerful the little girl would be.

**The Road Not Taken**

by Robert Frost

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

Nicholas closed the book and looked at the little girl in his arms. "Who knew that Americans could be so thoughtful?" he asked. Julie waved her arms at her grandfather and laughed as she latched onto his beard. "Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" The baby's wide grin was all the answer he would get, "You know, if everything had gone the way it should have, you would have been born in Russia, or at least visiting me frequently." He sighed, Larissa and Ilyana were helping out in the nursery today as five babies wreaked havoc. Larissa looked at her uncle with worry in her eyes. They had not heard from Mikhail or Vladimir since Logan had returned from dropping them off.

Kitty walked through the door as Julie noticed her and started babbling, "Mamamamamamama," in her direction. Nicholas laughed as Kitty walked over to scoop up her daughter.

"You spend a lot of time in the nursery Nicholas," she said as Julie reached for her mother's necklace.

"I enjoy it. I almost didn't get any time with them," he said, scooping Mikhail up as he toddled by. "I envy you, your powers. I can't go out and fight these people."

"I could teach you some martial arts techniques, if nothing else it'll make you feel better. My class starts on the front lawn at dawn," she said as she departed.

The next morning he found himself outside with a dozen students and Alexandra, Larissa, Rachael, and Ilyana. By the time he was done he hadn't felt more sore in his life. He used muscles that he hadn't used in nearly sixty years of farming. "All right, everyone just starting this class, go take a hot shower. Everyone else, go to classes, danger room, see Dr. McCoy, or whatever else you need to do today." She bowed to her audience as they returned the gesture.

The next several weeks saw him learning much from the classes. He would never reach the level of the younger students, but his age was no hindrance and Logan took him and Alexandra under his wing, showing him Tai Chi that allowed him more flexibility. He learned later that Kitty went back to Siberia once a month to make sure her former students kept up with their own exercises. Yoshi had expanded his own classes to include the women as well.

The months passed as he noticed that the older Rachael seemed to withdraw into herself in spite of Alexandra's attention. The fact that her actual parents couldn't respond to her as such didn't appear to be helping and the only people that she seemed to respond to were Kitty and Peter. Finally, Nicholas walked out onto the front porch one morning. She sat on the front steps petting Athena who was agreeable to the attention as a faint snoring issued from her snout. He handed her a Coke and smiled as he opened the can in his hand, "Good Morning."

Rachael looked up accepting the can, and then quickly returned to her contemplation of her friend's hide. "You've become friends with my daughter, you can't be all bad." She remained silent, he reached down and put his arm around her shoulders, "It's all right, you know. I'm not going to hurt you." A small noise issued from the young girl. He couldn't figure out what it was until she turned to him and buried her face in his shoulder, she was weeping. Athena reacted predictably, she started crooning into Rachael's ear, trying to comfort her.

Rachael seemed to come out of her shell more after that. Kitty and Peter made more of and effort to include her in everything they did with Ilyana and Larissa. Soon, Alexandra and Nicholas decided to make it official and began the process of adopting the little girl. Her natural parents reluctantly agreed that it was for the best and gave up their parental rights. Alexandra and Nicholas would be able to give her what Jean and Scott were frankly too confused to. As it turned out, the same day that their adoption of Rachael became final they became US citizens.

One day Kitty found Jean watching Rachael helping Ilyana with her homework, "I wish her life could have been so different." Kitty heard her say. Kitty remained silent as she watched the red head and the blonde head bent close together. "What does Xavier say?"

Kitty was startled by the question, "That she's extremely intelligent, and in spite of the fact that she couldn't read or write, apparently that wasn't a priority for young mutants, she has caught up to and surpassed others of her same age group." Jean nodded, she would always care for the girl that, in another lifetime, was her own.

Weeks later this idyllic time was broken up by several events. Jean discovered that she was pregnant again, and Mikhail returned without Vladimir.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We were coming out of the base we found when we were attacked," Mikhail reported, holding Natasha's hand. The large man was covered in scratches and bruises that indicated a harrowing fight had taken place. "I'm not sure, but I could swear that we were the Antarctic."

Logan muttered, "Were there dinosaurs?"

Mikhail looked up, startled, "What we were attacked by looked like Pterodactyls?" he asked, looking at Kitty and Hank.

Kitty flipped through a book looking for pictures before finally stopping, "Look like this?" He nodded, even recognizing the pictures in the book. "The Savage Land," she muttered. "Good place to hide. The only indigenous people are extremely low tech. You wouldn't know it was there unless you'd been there before."

Alexandra sputtered, "Dinosaurs living with people?"

"It looks kind of like a science experiment run amok," Kitty explained. "We met the Fell People while we were down there. Very nice people, and very free with their…" Kitty looked around at the younger people at the table, "Celebrations."

"Wait a minute," Hank broke in, "How are they living in the Antarctic?"

Logan barked out a laugh, "It's a tropical paradise. Back after Kitty phased that bullet through the Earth I received a weird energy signature that looked familiar. I located it and Kitty, which turned out to be the source of the signature, down there and located her by following Lockheed. I came across a tribe people called the Fell People, and that's where I found Kitty. Apparently, she had fallen out of the bullet and nearby where they picked her up and were arguing over whether or not she should be worshipped as a goddess." Kitty snorted, "As weak as she was, she was telling them no. Apparently, they had a legend about a goddess falling from the sky. I got her out, promised them we would return, and got her back to the mansion."

Hank and Xavier looked up, "Have you gone back?" Xavier asked.

"A couple of times," Kitty said. "They said there was something interesting happening at the southern end of the land. They didn't know what and I couldn't get to that end. Those mountains are, well, hell." She looked over at Logan, "Should we go back? See what's going on?"

Logan stood, "I think it would be a good idea. Scott, Kitty, Peter, Hank, yeah, you can come too, Rogue, and Remy. For those of you who haven't been there, be prepared for large, mean dinosaurs, and I don't mean the Tyrannosaurus Rex."

**We'll leave it here for now. Although, this might be another wild goose chase. Who knows?**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

**I just read a brilliant play written by a good friend of mine, Gail, that I'm not supposed to talk about, so I won't. Instead, I bring you another chapter of New World. While Kitty and Logan have plans to rush off to the Savage Land, Perfection and Destiny both have other ideas, much to Shaw's dismay. No, still don't own them.**

"What do you mean they agree with each other?" Shaw said exasperatedly into his phone. "Those two never agree, even on prophecies." Shaw's secretary grinned, it was rare that the man was ever rattled, "All right, I'll pass it on." He sat down and started typing an e-mail to Charles Xavier. He needed to know.

Across the state the e-mail chimed in on Xavier's computer just as the meeting broke up. He held up a hand, "Hold it, Logan, you're not going to the Savage Land."

There on the computer the prophecy spelled it out in plain English, "The Tracker should not go with the Guardian and the Knight. If the Tracker does, the child and the Seeker shall not return. The Guardian shall die. The Tracker will go to the land of water and fire and meet them there." Kitty started coughing on the water she'd just swallowed as Logan growled and looked at the e-mail.

"I'm as startled as anyone," Xavier said. "They've never been wrong. Even when they've disagreed. Kitty, go see Hank. Let's see if the bit about the child has anything to do with you." The last words were spoken as Kitty's disappearing form was propelled out the door by Peter.

As it turned out, Kitty wasn't pregnant, which only served to frustrate Logan even more. "Punkin', you're the Guardian, I'm the tracker. I'm willin' to bet that Petey here is the Knight…" Peter looked at them confused. "Years ago, Destiny and Perfection, both precognititives, fortune tellers if you like, saw the formation of a team: the Guardian, the Tracker, the Knight, the One-Eyed Man, the Phoenix, the Gambler, the Misfit, and the Seeker. I'm the Tracker, Kitty's the Guardian, Scott's the One-Eyed Man, Jean's the Phoenix, Remy's the Gambler, and Rogue is the misfit. Some were obvious: like me and Scott. Others, like Kitty, we kinda had to figure out."

Kitty stuck her tongue out, "Perfection said 'The Guardian will be identified when they break something.' Two hours later I broke my leg, a Ming Vase, half of the Danger Room, well, you get the picture. The only reason they knew I'd return from that bullet was because Destiny's prophecy hadn't been fulfilled. That and we hadn't found the Knight and the Seeker. Lisa's got to be the Seeker." She tugged off her gloves and started typing into one of the computer mainframes in the infirmary. "There's never been a reference to 'The Child' before. Do you think she means Rachael?"

Logan frowned, "I don't think so." He frowned as he watched Kitty send an e-mail to Shaw about bringing others along. The response was quick; the only no-no was the Tracker. "So, what, I'm going to Hawaii?"

"Can you think of another place of fire and water?" Rogue quipped.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Warren lay in the big bed. Some subs were harder to get to surrender than others. This one had been particularly intractable. Even tying her left hand to the bed had proven difficult. Last time she had gotten loose she had made it to the elevators before Creed caught up with her. Tonight, he had come to her as he had every night and taken her. She fought, scratched, bit and kicked the entire way but in the end had given into exhaustion. She had done this every night until recently. He had begun to see a glimmer of hope three nights ago when she simply did nothing to stop him.

Every night she also crossed over his body afterwards to sit on the floor and weep. This night had been different. As she crossed over she looked down at his erection and did something she hadn't done: initiated the intimate contact. He'd been surprised, she'd been the most difficult case he'd had in years and it had only taken a month. She'd collapsed into his arms and he wrapped them around her. Her breathing became ragged as she cried once again. As he captured her mouth she surrendered body, mind, spirit, and her name. "You'll be well taken care of now, Elsa," he murmured into her hair, stroking it.

Warren realized he'd have to call in Maurice in the morning. She was in serious need of grooming. Dani had taken to making sure she bathed every day, but no one could convince her to brush her hair or other necessities. He looked up to find a curious pair of eyes looking in on them. It was one of the maids who weren't a participant in this lifestyle. He was very scrupulous about this; he informed new hires to his household of what they'd encounter. He also told them that their pay would not reflect whether or not they joined in. His chief maid was a grandmother who kept clear of all these dealings. He slipped out of bed and pulled on a robe.

Marie stared at him as he exited the room. He stopped to untie Elsa from the bed before crossing the threshold. Marie stared at the floor, "Sir, I…wonder if I could have an advance. My landlord raised my rent yesterday and I'm unable to pay what he's demanding."

Warren crossed over to his wallet, "How much do you need?" She stared at him, "The last thing I need is my domestic staff distracted by not having a place to live. Will a thousand help?" He smiled as she nodded her head mutely.

He handed it to her as she asked, "You're not going to ask me to…"

"Like I said, I don't need my domestic staff distracted by domestic problems. Besides, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do," he smiled at her. She threw her arms around him murmuring her thanks before running out the door. He returned to the room to find the bed empty. His heart nearly stopped before her opened the bathroom door to find Elsa sitting on the bathtub brushing her hair. He walked over and took the brush from her hand and began to brush it himself. Her hair was still damp from a recent shower. The soft hand restraint around her left wrist dripped water onto the floor. Her hands dropped into her lap as she closed her eyes and took pleasure in his sure strokes.

Soon, Warren pulled her up onto her feet and led her from the room. He untied the restraint from her wrist, "I want you to stand, feet apart, and hands clasped behind your head." He smiled appreciatively as she followed his instructions. "When you are walking in the living quarters and standing in such this is how you will present yourself. You will sit on the floor, not in chairs or on the sofa unless otherwise instructed by me or those who represent me. I will introduce you to them tomorrow. You will a collar and leash here as well."

Warren took a drink, and smiled at her, "You will also be taken to the sub quarters tomorrow where you will be introduced to Mistress Alicia and your groomer, Andrew. When you enter my quarters you will crawl on your hands and knees to me, kiss my feet and back off two feet and await my orders. That is tomorrow, tonight, we will learn about each other." He pulled off his robe and pressed the glass of water to her lips. She closed her eyes and drank.

Warren's assistant, Rebecca, walked into his private offices the next morning to find Elsa standing correctly behind his chair. A blue collar encircled her neck decorated with garnets that matched her brown eyes. A leash the same blue color dangled between her breasts. Becca raised an eyebrow, "What, did this one surrender last night?" Warren smiled. Becca plopped the files she held in her hands down on his desk, "Here's the contracts that came in last night. One of your maids wants to talk to you, maybe about making 'arrangements' to join your cadre. You want me to take her down to Alicia?" she asked pointing at Alicia.

Warren sighed; he wasn't particularly surprised about Marie. She had two small boys and lived in the poorest neighborhood he could imagine. "Talk to her, see what she's looking for and get back to me. It would be nice to have another domestic nearby. Yes, please take her down to Alicia. Her name is Elsa Grümens; please pull up her contract when you have a chance. I think she needs to be reminded of what her duties are."

Becca nodded, "Jamie Maddrox is due to start his apprenticeship today. You asked me to remind you."

"Thank you, ask him to come see me before he leaves. Becca, the blindfold is voluntary for her. She occasionally sees things that might be unpleasant."

Becca sighed and took the leash in her left hand. This was part of her job, but she didn't particularly like it. "Come on, you can walk," she turned and lead the girl away, shutting the door behind her. Becca also knew better than telling Elsa that she could put her arms down until she reached the Sub quarters. She handed the leash to Alicia upon arrival and said, "This is Elsa, she's new, have fun."

Becca turned and left as Alicia looked at her over. Tall, thin, with iron grey hair pulled into a bun, her large glasses helped her examine Elsa with excruciating detail. "You can put your arms down. Inside these quarters you're free to move as you please. There is no touching others, male or female inside these quarters. Although, in the baths, you're free to wash each other's backs. All Subs in here are naked unless they are they are headed out into the world for their jobs, or other appointments that require clothes. Not every Sub lives here, those with families live in apartments with their families, and senior Subs, those about to leave on outside contracts, have their own apartments." She led the young woman through the rooms, "Your roommates are mixed, so don't become suddenly shy." She pointed to an empty bed, "That's your bed; get to know your bunkmates. Your groomer, Maurice, will be here in the next hour."

Elsa noticed that most of the men walked around with a leather thong around their manhoods that kept them erect. It didn't look particularly comfortable to her; neither did the women who had what looked like clothespins attached to their nipples. "You get used to it," a voice interrupted her reverie.

She looked up to find a man, little more than a boy really, sitting across from her polishing a pair of black shoes. An unadorned black leash and collar hung from his neck as he used a soft brush across the top of the shoes. A suit lay next to him, ready to go. "Get used to what?" she asked cautiously.

"The sights and sounds, and occasionally smells that come with this," he noticed her wrinkled nose. "Mostly pleasant smells, the Doms here don't appreciate us smelling badly. The groomers get fewer tips if we do. Oh, sorry, Jamie Maddrox," he said, nodding at her. "I surrendered three days ago, and I'm about to start my apprenticeship in Hospital Management."

"Elsa Grümens," she replied.

They both looked up as a man strode over. He was dressed in a black t-shirt, blue jeans held up with a black belt, and a black jacket suit jacket over it. Black tennis shoes adorned his feet. He had shaved his head to a short length of hair and wore a gold hoop earring in his right ear. He grasped her chin and forced her to look up at him as he examined her. "Hair is an absolute mess, will have to fix that," he muttered to himself. "Stand up!" he commanded fussily. Jamie rolled his eyes, another thing she'd have to get used to, she supposed. She stood and automatically assumed the stance Warren had told her, "No, no need to preen. Just stand naturally. Look at those feet! Manicure, pedicure, Alicia, I need to take her to the spa. Only way to whip this one into shape is the whole treatment!" She smiled, he reminded her of someone she'd met, but like so many things that she should remember, his name escaped her.

Elsa found herself dressed for the first time in weeks. She wore a blue sun dress, and after a pair of blue heels caused her to fall three times in five minutes, sandals and shades. They were accompanied to a limo by Lawrence, one of Warren's many bodyguards, and Precious, Maurice's assistant, who kept taking notes. She was steamed, facialed, wrapped in what looked like cellophane and had cucumbers put on her eyes. Her feet and hands were buffed smooth while all her nails were painted red. She was massaged senseless, not that she minded one bit, and then her hair was styled. When it was done her hair was shorter, red, and a lot curlier than she normally wore it.

Then they went to a lingerie store. This one catered to the discriminating client, even though most of the underwear didn't have a crotch. Maurice was obviously gay and Lawrence was very much a professional, so her fashion show wasn't nearly as embarrassing as it might have been. The sales man saw big commission dancing in front of his eyes, so he left them in a private room while Maurice gave Precious notes. "We're going to have to get you used to heels, Elsa. What did you do before this? CSI? because you definitely walk like you did." Another tingle at the back of brain that just slipped away before it could fully form.

Their next stop took them to a high end boutique where they bought make-up, hair accessories, some jewelry and clothes. He didn't buy a lot of clothes, Warren had been specific, it would be a few more weeks before she was allowed out of the building on personal business. He bought just enough for when Maurice or Warren took her out. "We'll expand your wardrobe as it becomes necessary," Maurice assured her on the way home. Lawrence served as pack mule. He'd carried everything out of the stores and now carried everything up to the suites in the upper floors of Worthington Towers.

Elsa returned to her quarters and hung up the few clothes she bought in the Armoire and folded the extensive lingerie into the drawers. Automatically she removed her clothing, hanging that up as well, and donned the collar and leash hanging there labeled, "Put this on." She explored her new home and found quickly the "game" room. It was filled with toys that the Subs could avail themselves of if they felt in need. The moans and groans issuing from the room made it clear that a few of them were.

Elsa's stomach rumbled. She approached another door and found a dining room where sandwiches and other foods were available. She found an egg salad sandwich, a bottle of water and sat down at an empty table. She ate slowly and looked around her. The room could hold about a hundred people and looked out at the plaza below. She picked up her loot and walked over to the windows and looked out. Warren Towers stood eighty stories and the top thirty were used for his "other business". A pigeon sat on the ledge outside and looked at her before it pecked its way far from her.

Elsa finished her sandwich and left the room and wandered into the second to last room. It was the bathing room. Men and women sat around a large submerged tub with steam rising from it. It suddenly explained the beauty products that Maurice had included in the shopping trip. In a room attached to this one was the "grooming room." It held dressers with mirrors, various kinds of brushes, make-up, and name plates decorating them. She ventured through the room and found a dresser with her name on it. She opened the drawers and found some of the jewelry and make-up purchased that day in them. Make-up, brushes and other accoutrements lay in the others. The gold letters "E W" hung from a red ribbon. It sat in the center of the dresser.

"I see you've discovered his gifts," a voice sounded behind her. She turned to find Jamie behind her. He walked over to his dresser and showed his own, a green ribbon with "J W" on it. "Our master likes to mark his property. Not permanently, mind you. Would you like to join me in the common room?" he asked, holding his arm out to her. She giggled as she laid her hand on his arm. "There are a few rules you should keep in mind. There are five Doms here, but no Dom can poach. Meaning, if another one summons you, you don't have to go, unless there's a previous arrangement. You're not going to go to Master every night, so don't be afraid of going in there," he waved a hand at the "game room." "Victor Creed may look scary, but he doesn't force himself on anyone, male or female. He's…very good at what he does, though. So, go ahead and try him at least once."

Elsa cocked an eyebrow, "You swing both ways?"

"I didn't before I came here. I just had to get used to having men's hands down there. You'll get used to women touching you there. It's part and parcel of the lifestyle. You might even enjoy it," he paused as he opened the door to the common room. "There are five Doms, that's short Dominants, or in the case of women, Dominatrix. Two women and three men including our Master. They're referred to as Master or Mistress, even here. Just keep in mind that our Master is the only one of them who can take you from here."

Warren and Mistress Sheila, one of the Dominatrixes, sat among a gaggle of their Subs as Elsa and Jamie entered. Both Warren and Sheila smiled at them. "I'll be sending for you at seven, Elsa. I'd like to see some of the clothing you bought today." Elsa nodded, suddenly and strangely aroused by his statement. Jamie smiled as they sat on the floor, there was no more room in the chairs and couches. The floor was littered with cushions and a plush carpet. Warren wore the business suit he'd worn that day and Sheila wore a black leather business suit and boots. She talked quietly with her Subs pressed in close to her. "How was your first day, Jamie?" Warren asked.

Jamie's eyes lit up as he talked animatedly of his day, the tour of the hospital, and the woman, Adrina, who had taken up his apprenticeship. Warren listened and asked a few questions regarding his job and co-workers, and other small details that didn't seem important to Jamie. He asked Elsa what she thought of Maurice, she laughed as she told of the little things that seemed unimportant during their shopping trip. The dog she nearly tripped over, the big black Newfoundland had charmed her with his "whoof" and big messy lick on her face. The funniest part was the dog was bigger than the eight year old boy being walked by him. They laughed, Maurice was the groomer for three of the girls in the room and the dog in question was well known. His name was Max.

One of the senior subs led her to Warren's apartment that night. She barely remembered to crawl into the apartment and kiss his ankles before moving back to await his orders. "Stand and go start modeling the clothing on the bed." She rose and went to the bed and donned the first outfit, a heart shaped red top with matching thong and robe. He whistled as she strutted outfit after outfit for him. He finally gave in to temptation as the last piece, a blue bustier with no actual cups at the top that left her breasts bare but held up by underwires. Stockings were held up by garters attached to the bottom of the top while the panties were barely there. She purred as he grabbed her from behind and his hands began to fondle. "This one is definitely my favorite," he murmured. She sighed and relaxed into his embrace.

She couldn't remember her real name, she thought it started with and "L", but it was lost in his caresses and his teaching her what pleased a man.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kitty topped the rise of land, the jungle stretching out below her. Peter struggled up beside her, "I thought Texas was hot," he breathed. "It was never this humid."

Kitty raised her hand to shade her eyes, looking in the distance. "I wonder how Fahe and Nereel are doing," she asked aloud."

"Why don't you just ask us, Kitty?" a voice sounded from the jungle behind them.

"Nereel!" she exclaimed, embracing the woman. "How are you?"

"I am well, my sons grow strong. Where is Logan?" she asked concernedly, looking around for the mutant.

"Hopefully he'll be meeting up with us later. Nereel, this is my mate, Peter," she said introducing the woman with the strange hairdo to Peter.

"You have been mated! Any children?" Nereel asked.

"A beautiful daughter," she replied.

"Come," Nereel said, leading them down the hill, Rogue, Scott, and Jubilee followed. "We must talk."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Logan and Gambit struggled down the mountain, "This is it?" Remy gasped as they looked at the cave. It still looked busy.

"Yeah, this is it," Logan growled, now, how do we get in?"

**All right, here we go. This was quite a bit longer than I anticipated, but world-building will do that. I'm trying to make everything as "normal" seeming as possible for those on the inside. This also reflects the incongruities in Warren's character. Forcing one woman into this lifestyle while helping a maid out with her rent raised by a greedy landlord. Dominant and Submissive lifestyles, while not considered "normal" are fun and interesting between consenting adults. The games played can be quite interesting. While not as hard-core as Sado-Massichism, it has similar origins. Okay, let me know what you think, ttfn!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

by Starsinger

**You know, I sometimes have way too much time on my hands, and so does Wolverine in this chapter. He has way too much time to think about what he's going to do to our bad guy once he gets there. Got the idea from my supervisor, tell the story at the end of the chapter. I think this will do it for this story, I made a trip to the dark side, and now I'm done, not going back there in this chapter, well, except to wrap things up. See you on the other side!**

Peter awoke in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. Kitty slept quietly beside him in the tent they had brought with them to the Savage Lands. Perfection's prediction about the Guardian haunted him. He was having nightmares. All he wanted to do now was touch her and kiss her, and wake Lockheed up in the process.

The little dragon flew out of the tent in complete disgust as clothes started flying. He found Storm's tent and politely knocked. Ororo was usually up at this time and was a bit surprised by her guest. "Kitten and Peter get a little rough?" Lockheed nodded. "Okay, stay, I could use the company. I'm probably as troubled by Perfection's prophecy as Peter is."

"Meh," Lockheed replied. He looked at the cup of tea Ororo handed him and shrugged. Ororo's tea was quite good. He stuck his snout into the cup and drank. He didn't want to admit that he was worried too. Nereel and Fahe had taken them to the site of the strange building. They had no idea how big it was or how many people occupied it.

"One day it was there," Fahe said. "It's built entirely into the mountain with only the façade showing. We knew there are people occupying it when we saw people walking around outside. Many were pregnant." Kitty aimed binoculars at the building. "We only saw them that one time."

Ororo looked at the small dragon slurping down the tea with affection. He had been the anchor that had seen Kitty through Wisdom, Frost, and many other crises throughout her life. When she disappeared on that bullet so had he. He had returned soon after she had. He had been the one to assure Ororo about Peter, that he wouldn't hurt her. He had even approved of her and Logan, that had shocked the weather mutant. She missed Logan terribly, right now. She sighed as she turned out the lamp and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day. Lockheed curled up next to her.

They had waited five days for word from Mystique that Logan and Mikhail were in position. Five days they had spent as Peter watched in fascination as creatures long dead moved through the thick jungle. He even wrestled a Tyrannosaurus Rex to save a small child. This impressed the tribe who promptly made him a Kitty honorary members. On the sixth day they waited still, Kitty had foregone the gloves saying that it was simply too hot. Peter liked her hands and was happy to see them bare. Then again, he liked it when everything was bare.

"Hey, Mystique," Scott radioed through. "Heard anything from our feral friend?"

Static answered him for five seconds as he waited, "The volcano has erupted, Scott. Move in an hour."

"Volcano has erupted? Couldn't you have come up with something more original?" Remy asked.

"Jean's call, not mine. I just agree to whatever she says and smile a lot," Scott said referring to his pregnant wife. Their second child caused hormone shifts that made a schizophrenic look normal. He called the rest of the team together, "Okay, we just have to go through the front door. Peter, you and Kitty take point for obvious reasons."

Peter and Kitty nodded as they approached the building. Kitty shrugged as she pushed her way through the wall. Peter took the more direct approach by putting his foot through the front door. The soldiers inside seemed surprised that their bullets either went through them or bounced off them as the started shooting. Peter stood their doing his "Man of Steel" impression with a weird grin on his face until they stopped. Kitty leaned over, "If they throw those guns at you and you duck I'm going to laugh myself silly." The soldiers threw the guns down before heading for the exits. A few brave souls tried hand-to-hand combat but managed only a few rounds before being mowed down by Scott's eyebeams.

Kitty took off down one of the corridors, she was determined to find Lisa, or make them pay. She ran through rooms as the sounds of battle continued behind her. She knew her friends would free the women and children she found there. What she found in the last room sickened her. Dr Adams was there and his pants were down as he assaulted a young boy. He never saw her as she knocked him over the head with a blunt instrument. The boy was crying as Kitty knelt down next to him and laid her hands on his face. She helped him pull up his pants and assured him that he'd be all right. As tempted as she was to make sure the man couldn't do this again, she threw him out in the hall with a name tag "Dr Adams, Pedophile" stapled to his chest. Logan would take care of him. Kitty looked over and found a computer console. She turned it on and started to sift through the files.

Peter and Scott started down the corridor as they heard a loud thump. A man came sailing through the wall and out the other side landing in a heap. Scott bent over to read the note, a nasty smile crossed his face as the door suddenly blew open and it and Kitty landed against the far wall with a sickening thud. She slid down it limply. Scott and Peter ran to her, the doctor almost forgotten behind them. "Katya!" Peter cried. He crouched down next to her, "She's not breathing!"

"Her heart's stopped," Scott said the clenched teeth. "Peter, start breathing for her." They started CPR as Ororo and the others joined them and helplessly watched. The Guardian was dead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Logan entered the mansion. The Hawaii installation had been almost too easy to take down. He didn't like it. Something wasn't right. What he found in the mansion was chaos. Julie was in the middle of the foyer crying that her mommy was dead, Rachael was standing in the corner, Peter looked a little wild-eyed as he reached down to pick his daughter up and managed to miss. Ororo and Rogue were nowhere to be found and Remy was…well, Remy.

Logan went downstairs to find Hank and found him sitting next to a young boy who lay in a hospital bed. He shook his head in sadness as he left the room, "Dr Adams' latest victim. Kitty left as a present for you."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Logan demanded. A pit dropped into his stomach.

Hank stood and walked out of the room. Logan followed him as they went through the infirmary. They passed several blanket covered bodies on the way. They stopped at the door to a room and Logan looked in. Kitty lay pale under a blanket, her right arm in a sling. "Well, Perfection and Destiny were right. The Guardian did die. The computer she accessed was booby-trapped and blew her out a door. She was electrocuted and broke her neck, as well as dislocating her elbow."

"So, how is it she only has her arm in a sling?" Logan asked.

"The kid in that room, he's a mutant. I know, he's a little young for manifestation. His power did so because he was being violated by Dr. Adams. He walked over to Kitty and healed most of her injuries, except the elbow. The end result, we know where to find Lisa, but we have to wait until she can walk. A couple of days should take care of it."

"What did those two say about their predictions?" Logan growled.

"And I do quote: 'I never said that the Guardian would stay dead'." Hank laughed grimly.

They put together another team over the next two days. Still in pain, Kitty spearheaded the drive to Worthington Industries. When dead she'd seen Lisa's plight, and a report from Mystique's source in Warren's household confirmed the girl's presence, but then things had gone quiet. No one had heard anything from her source or anyone in the building in nearly a week.

The building they entered was eerily quiet. The security guards were slumped over the desks as if in a deep sleep. Floor by floor they searched the building and room after room they found the exact same thing. Puzzled, Kitty called back to the Professor to see if he could provide an explanation as they came across the first sign of life in the building, Victor Creed and a woman Kitty recognized as Warren's assistant, Becca, were arguing over what was happening in Warren's office on the fifth floor. They looked around almost guiltily as Logan and the others entered the office.

"No, I don't have a clue as to what's been going on, I went on vacation and came back…" her voice trailed off as a hand waved vaguely in the direction of the silent rooms.

Victor said he had been off on "personal business" for the past few days. Warren had been working on one of his "projects" and he didn't agree with that. Forcing yourself on a woman, in his opinion, was wrong and he wanted no part of that. Becca commented at Logan's raised eyebrow, "She's not the first, and even after the others were brainwashed Victor still refused them. He still felt it was rape."

Kitty's face was set in a grim line, "Can you take me to his latest 'project'?"

Becca waved Kitty and Logan on as she and Victor started to the elevator, "Warren called her Elsa Grümens, even though our records record her name as Lisa Guerrero Sanchez. Elsa happens to be a talent who works as a waitress at the diner across the street. It comes in handy when ordering lunch. What happened to your arm?" Becca asked conversationally.

"Dislocated the elbow in a fight last week," Kitty said. The scene that greeted them was something from a perverted Porn movie. Warren lay on his back without a stitch of clothing on. On the floor beside the bed still tied to the bedpost Lisa lay in a fetal position. Both were not conscious. Kitty knew Logan was furious as his claws started popping in and out of his hands. "Logan, you can't…"

"Oh, I won't damage him," he pursed his lips. "Go find some make-up, and tell Petey I need him to pick Lisa up." He looked at Becca, "Leave, go find another job, use me as a reference if you want. Don't come back."

Becca fled, Kitty walked back to the elevators in search of what Logan asked for, almost absently telling Peter asked of her. Rahne had joined the team, and they knew something was really wrong when the reached the subs quarters. Kitty and Rogue were exploring the bathing room when she ran out of another room screaming, "My eyes, they bleed!"

The two women looked at each other and went through the door Rahne had just exited, what greeted them was an education. "Well, I knew Warren's tastes bordered on the exotic, but I didn't know he had such an extensive collection of…toys," Kitty said.

Rogue grinned, "I didn't know they made such devices." She closed the door behind them and they walked to another door, and found what they were looking for. They raided dressers for jewelry, make-up, and anything else that Logan thought might be helpful for whatever he had in mind. When they arrived back at the room, Lisa was gone and Warren was dressed. White stockings, six inch heels, and matching thong paired with a strapless bra was worn under a white floor length gown. He also wore elbow length gloves and a blonde wig. Kitty and Rogue took one look at the get-up and turned around to prop themselves up against the wall due to laughter. "Ah guess this tiara will come in handy," Rogue gasped out.

Logan grinned, "Anybody got a camera?"

"So," Kitty said, "this is what happens when you contemplate your revenge because you have way too much time on your hands, oh, and your subject is right in front of you." She fished her phone out of her purse as Rogue put the finishing touches on Logan's piece of art.

She took pictures from many different angles, including one up the dress before Xavier's voice sounded behind them. "If you're done having fun with our guest, we have a problem. Kitty, it's someone you're familiar with."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kitty came across the table to grab the front of one of the women's clothing and haul her forward, "YOU RUINED MY LIFE, BITCH!" Peter grabbed her by her shoulder and trying to keep her from ripping the woman's head off her shoulders. Emma Frost and Cassandra Nova sat across from them. Frost shrugged her negligee back into place, apparently unruffled. Logan still had a hold of Mystique to keep her from doing the job Peter was keeping Kitty from doing. Remy had stuffed Rogue in one of the vaults.

The source of the comatose people was the controlling influence of these two women. Cassandra Nova was controlling Lisa to the point of trying to take over her. Her own useless body was to be cast off when the job was done. Warren's brainwashing was a perfect avenue into her plan. Everyone had woken up since, Emma having released her control of their minds. Lisa lay in a bed in another room. Her mother hovered anxiously nearby.

"Be that as it may, Katherine, we may have only one recourse for these people to wake Lisa from her coma," Xavier said quietly. Kitty sullenly removed herself from the room. The sling was the only thing that kept her from crossing her arms. Xavier joined her in the corridor. "Kitty…"

"I HATE THIS!" she said, holding up her gloved hand. She pulled off the gloves and removed the hated opal. He watched as she threw the ring at Frost, nailing her perfect cheek, before storming off down the hallway. Xavier watched as Emma picked up the ring from the floor and examined it. It went on the table in front of her, just another curiosity.

Peter joined him, "What is this that needs to be done."

"Burnout," Xavier said. "We gather a few telepaths and empaths and literally burnout the telepathic abilities. It'll stop this attack on Lisa and maim them for life. They'll never be able to do this again." Peter went cold when Xavier described it. "Yes, it could kill them, but even if they cooperate and release her…" Peter understood, the courts could still order this punishment.

"Lisa might still never wake up," Xavier finished. "I think the key will be this Elsa Grümens. Didn't Becca say that she works in the diner across the street from Worthington Industries?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jubilee and Jean entered the diner laughing. They knew who they were looking for it was just a matter time. The diner was typical of the idea. Barstools lined the front counter with men and women perched atop them. Red booths lined the green walls while tables filled the rest of the place. The bare floor felt slightly sticky below their shoes. The waitresses wore pink dresses and white aprons. A hat sat atop their heads. Jean leaned over, "Not sure if you get the reference, but I half expect to see Flo walk around the counter."

"And tell an old, fat, white man named Mel to 'Kiss mah grits!'?" Jubilee asked with a wicked grin. They sat at one of the booths and Elsa wandered over.

"How may I help you ladies?" she asked. Her light German accent gave away her immigrant status.

"Elsa, is it?" Jean asked. "You have no idea how much we need your help."

Their arrival back at the mansion was met with hope. Lisa's condition had deteriorated to the point that Moira seriously considered putting her on a vent. Elsa looked at the poor girl with sympathy as she stripped off her gloves. "This room has shields, right?" at Jean's nod she continued, "When I give the word, slam them down and be ready to deal with the aftermath, to both her and those who are attempting this."

The minutes stretched out, it seemed like hours as more people anxiously joined them. The only one who didn't was Hank, who was manning the controls. The silence almost seemed palpable as suddenly Lisa's eyes popped open, "LET GO OF ME! GET OFF ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

No one heard Elsa's command but the screaming from Emma and Nova's mouths were clearly audible, "Lisa, it's okay, you're safe," Elsa said forcing her head in her direction. Jean, Jubilee, Kitty, Moira, and the others in the room joined in the dialogue.

"Kitty?! Oh, God, what happened to me?" Lisa started sobbing.

Moira nodded, "I performed a full examination on her. Warren's systematic assault on her is documented and ready for trial. What happened to Emma and Cassandra?"

"The abrupt severance caused total burn-out, they'll never do this again," Jean announced. "After everything they've done, I don't feel sorry for them."

"Me either," Kitty breathed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He spread it all over his hand and peered at it, yet, when he turned his hand over, all it was, was milk," Kitty finished the story.

Julie clapped her hands, "Yay, thank u mommy, can I go play now?"

Kitty smiled, "Of course, have fun. Grigorii!" she called, trying to get up from the sofa. The young man appeared from around the corner trying not to laugh. Kitty trying to get up from the sofa at eight months pregnant was a sight. He reached out his hands as she got to her feet with an oomph. "Heard anything?" she asked as she waddled out the door.

Six months before, shortly after she'd learned she was pregnant again, she, Peter, Alexandra, Nicholas, and Ilyana decided to move back to Siberia. This was where it had begun, and while she loved her friends and family, she wanted to enjoy this pregnancy in a way neither of them had been able to with Julie. No one had argued with them, Lisa had even joined them. Her recovery was slow and she still woke screaming. Her supervisor's comment was that her job would be waiting for her when she returned. She and Yoshi were getting along famously.

"Emma Frost and Cassandra Nova are now residents of Muir Island. The removal of their powers seem to have driven them mad. Warren was convicted of one-hundred sixty-three counts of sexual assault, kidnapping, brainwashing, and torture. His business has been sold and all proceeds are going to his victims. You and Lisa should be quite wealthy when all is said and done." Kitty sighed, she and Jubilee had been his early victims. "Oh, and the family of the poor boy who donated sperm to Jubes' baby is getting a cut too. Jubilee felt he was as much a victim as she was. Oh, and Nathan Charles Summers was born last night. He was two weeks late, nine pounds and twenty-one inches long."

Kitty silently congratulated Jean and Scott as they emerged from the compound into the cold Siberian night. It was over, life had returned to normal, and they knew that it would never be the same again.

**Okay, the story, we were seeing a ghost off the railroad tracks at work. She was wearing a white gown, well at least we think it was a she. There was no head or arms. Well, we were being threatened with being scared by someone dressing up like that during Boo at the Zoo and scaring the train drivers. Our supervisor threatened him with making him drive the train dressed in the aforementioned outfit if he scared all her drivers off the train.**


End file.
